The Eternal Torment of Tayuya Uzumaki
by ensou
Summary: She didn't expect to survive that fight. She didn't expect to get out from under the snake's thumb. She didn't expect to become best friends with a green-haired jinchūriki. And she *especially* didn't expect to find family in the shape of an excitable blonde boy. Tayuya-centric. Minor AU. Slow build.
1. The Bonds That Bind Us

This story evolved out of a question: "Tayuya survives, but no one is there to help her, so how did she?". There are a couple stories where she gets rescued by Jiraiya and/or Naruto, but I wanted to see what would happen with her as the main character. Enjoy! (And don't forget to review, every comment helps!)

* * *

If Love's a Sweet Passion, why does it torment?  
If a Bitter, oh tell me whence comes my content?  
Since I suffer with pleasure, why should I complain,  
Or grieve at my Fate, when I know 'tis in vain?  
Yet so pleasing the Pain is, so soft is the Dart,  
That at once it both wounds me, and Tickles my Heart.

\- _The Fairy-Queen_

* * *

**Disclaimer:**

Did Naruto ever need to choose between the lesser of two evils, and then find out later he'd chosen wrong? If not, I don't own _Naruto_, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Part 1: Life**

* * *

**Chapter 1:**  
**The Bonds That Bind Us**

Dying… was not what Tayuya had expected.

Or what she had hoped.

Instead it was black and inky, with vague feelings of malcontent and worry. She had no sight, but her hearing wavered in and out.

"She's the most compatible we've seen! If we don't take this opportunity, we may never get another chance!"

Whispered mutters filled her ears.

A clear, feminine voice rose up, and rang out in the dark like a bell.

"Do it. We have no other choice." It seemed to grow weary. "We _cannot_ allow _her_ to succeed."

The voice seemed to turn in Tayuya's direction. "I only hope she can forgive us."

Then there was silence. And Tayuya was thrown back into the void.

A spot appeared on the dark empty canvas, and expanded, appearing to rush towards her. And then she could see.

… What had she been doing? Something niggled at the back of her awareness, but she couldn't recall what it was. It was like a gap, but even the knowledge that there was a gap slowly sifted out of her mind…

* * *

Blinking, Tayuya blearily opened her eyes. Her vision was swarmed with browns and greens, and she realized that her head was lying down sideways, her face directly next to a giant tree.

Whipping her head up, she cleared her eyes with her hands and looked around.

She had been in a fight… with a some pineapple-haired asshole of a shadow user. And he had caught her, but she had him on the ropes. And then…

Tayuya struggled to remember, closing her eyes .

There was a girl. With weird blond hair like a clover. And a Suna hita-ite. And a fucking gigantic fan. Riiiiight.

She had used that fan. And… she had summoned something, like Tayuya's dokis. A weasel? With one eye. And sickle. Who the fuck gives a one-eyed weasel a sickle?

And then she had been thrown into the air. Her flute had been sliced to pieces in front of her. The entire world had rotated beneath her, and Tayuya could have sworn she had seen the Valley of the End. She had been sure she was going to die. She had watched the bisected tree trunks fall on her.

_Note to self. Do not attempt to engage wind users who know their shit in the middle of a forest._

But why wasn't she dead?

That seemed to be the question of the moment. She opened her eyes from her concentration, and continued surveying the situation.

Right until her eyes hit the large segments of wood that were crushing her entire lower half.

"FUCKING HELL!"

She continued to let loose a stream of profanities until it registered that she wasn't feeling anything.

…Where was the pain? She knew there was a lot of adrenaline in her system, but not nearly enough to deal with the fuck-ton of pain she _should_ be feeling. She'd have to practically be sedated not to feel this. She pinched her arm. Well, she could still feel that just fine. And then she poked the little bit of exposed flesh she could below her waist. Nothing.

Well, that was curious. Orochimaru-sama would no doubt be interested in _this_ development. She sobered as she realized the rest of the Sound Four were probably dead and they had more than likely failed the mission. She did _not_ want to be the one to tell him those things. Especially the last one.

The segment of tree that was pinning her legs down _You know they aren't pinned, they're flattened._ was about four feet wide in diameter. And it probably weighed half a ton.

She tried to move it. Yeah, not moving that without any help.

She laid back, just thinking for a moment. Why hadn't he come looking for her? Or any of them? At the very least, he should have come to collect their bodies. They were his personal guard, after all. So where the fuck was he?

She _knew_ that he was absolutely obsessed with the Uchiha boy, but not to the extent that he would just toss them aside like some old, used toy. Right? She was one of the _Sound fucking Four_. So when she finally got into a situation where she needed a bit of help, _where the hell was he_?

Her subconscious noted that she was questioning Orochimaru. Something that she hadn't done in years.

Ugh. It looked like she'd need to use the curse seal.

She hated it.

She hated the concept of it.

She hated the realization of it.

She avoided it all costs. Every time she used it, it felt like her entire body had been dunked in something slimy like oil, and whenever she came out of it, she always had a terrible headache, and the sense that something had been violating her in the worst ways.

It was an incredible high. Addicting, even. It made you feel absolutely invincible. But the drawbacks she felt completely soured the experience. Orochimaru had taken note of her complaints.

And then done absolutely nothing about it, simply telling her to deal with it.

But she just couldn't get over the feeling she had now that every time she had used it, the headache was because it had been doing something.

When she'd first taken the curse seal when she was thirteen, he had promised that all it did was give their chakra an extra 'kick'. Like adding a catalyst to a reaction. He'd even shown her notes on how it absorbed some kind of chakra from around her, stabilized it, and processed it so that her own chakra system would be able to handle it. But now she was getting the feeling he had left a few things out.

Why now?

She pushed the questions aside. She had more immediate problems to deal with.

Level one should be more than enough to handle this. She reached for the familiar tendril of black, oily taint that persisted in her chakra reserves, the link back to the curse seal, resigned to the terribly uncomfortable sensation in order to try and move the piece of wood that was trapping her.

"What. The. Fuck." It wasn't there.

She delved deeper, thinking maybe she had missed it, and her blackout had somehow screwed with her internal senses. But she hadn't been wrong. It was just… missing. Like it had never existed in the first place.

She scrabbled at the edge of her neckline and ran her fingers over the back of her neck, trying to feel for the burning right-angle hooks of the triskelion that was the surface mark of her curse seal. She vaguely realized her hands were shaking. Why?

There… there was nothing there. A nervous giggle bubbled up from her gut.

She was happy? Why was she happy? He would be _furious_! In fact, he'd probably make her into an experiment just to see _how_ the fuck she had managed to get rid of it, hoping that it would happen again. She would never see the light of day again. And yet, she couldn't stop laughing.

_That'll only happen __**if**__ he finds out_.

Yes. If was good.

_Why is if good?_

Tayuya clutched at her head in frustration. It was like there were two voices battling for supremacy in her mind.

It should be physically impossible to remove the curse seal. Removing it from you did nothing. Even grafting skin to replace the external symbol did nothing, as that only solved a _symptom_, not the cause. And the symbol would just float back to the top anyways.

The way the curse seal worked was that it grew _into_ your chakra network, threading through all of your pathways until it hit your reserves in your midsection. That included going through the paths that were intrinsically attached to vital organs. Like your heart. And your brain.

Even in the subjects that failed the application (the ones who _died_, dumbass), there was still those telltale microscopic black tendrils and roots, twisting around in the body upon Orochimaru's scientific autopsy.

When you drew on it, it siphoned chakra out of your reserves, modified it, and then injected it straight back in, like some sort of weird purification system. Except it didn't purify. It _tainted_, using that external source. Using the modified chakra had always felt like alcohol, addicting, fun, and great until the next day. Combustible, poisonous, and deadly were a few other similarities she could draw there. That was a great analogy.

So why was she thinking about the downsides so much _now_? She'd never really done that, she'd just avoided using it when she could. The only thing that had changed was the disappearance of the curse seal. Orochimaru hadn't done anything with mind-altering seals…

Except for a decade ago.

The blood drained from her face. "Oh Kami." There had been something in the seal. Some sort of loyalty and obedience directive. She vaguely recalled that some of the research notes she had read through covered suppressing both higher-level brain functions and the capability to question the person it was attuned to.

_Fucking shit on a stick._

Why hadn't she made that connection before now? Well, obviously the seal had been tampering and sabotaging her in that regard, but it had been _obvious_. A simple one-jump correlation!

Had she not _wanted_ to believe he would do that to them? Subconsciously ignoring all of the little hints and things that pointed to him not being as considerate as she had thought?

That… was disturbing. But then again, none of the other Sound Four had ever seemed to have trouble with it. But they had also worshiped the ground upon which "Orochimaru-sama" had walked.

Oh, she had done it too. Before the Konoha chunin exams, she'd seen him as some sort of invincible figure. A god. Anything he wanted, he got. It had been that charisma that had drawn her to him. Made her accept his offer. But when he had been defeated at the hands of the Third Hokage, she had started feeling like something was amiss.

Apparently he cared more about having loyal tools than ninja who could think their way out of a maze. It actually kind of explained a lot. Had they seriously believed that infiltrating a hidden village, and stealing one of its most prominent members wouldn't be noted?

Well, perhaps it wouldn't have for long enough. But then! They had been defeated by six _genin_. (7 if she counted that wind bitch.) It was a bit insulting to her abilities. All the Sound Four were supposed to be jounin-level.

But that wasn't the point.

The seal had been subtly warping their minds and brainwashing them, blocking and crushing thoughts of disloyalty or questions of his decisions.

There had been a few instances where she had seen him be rather cruel prior to the seal being applied, and the suspicions that he _didn't_ have their best interests in mind must have persisted even after its application.

And then there were a few other things to consider. After the Konoha Invasion, while they had been escaping, she had run past _Jiraiya_. The one man that Orochimaru had warned them never to engage, outside of that weird group with the black cloaks. That sort of attention was not the kind she wanted.

So what now?

She could go back to him, and he would put her right back where she had been, or worse experiment on her (and she had seen the things that had happened to those people. Not pretty.) Or what? Run away?

Her mind, newly freed from a pressure it hadn't even known existed, struggled with the concept of freedom.

She had been with Orochimaru for the past 7 years. And since she couldn't remember anything before she was seven or eight, that technically accounted for more than half her life. What else did she know besides working for him?

Tayuya vaguely noted that if the curse seal had still been applied, she probably would have jumped at the chance of returning to him. But now that she had full control of her mental faculties, _especially_ those that dealt with self-preservation and logic, she was questioning the purpose of that path.

This was some really tough shit.

Okay.

She had two options:

On the one hand, she could go back to him.

On the other, she could head in a different direction, living her life trying to stay under his radar, hoping he'd never catch notice of him.

Tayuya realized her mind was still automatically prioritizing going against him as 'bad'.

…_Let's try that again._

She had two options:

She could go back, and _at best_ hope for a life of servitude, bound to a man that conducted highly questionable and unethical experiments.

Or.

She could leave, and attempt to live a new life, working towards attaining something meaningful.

Huh. It really seemed like a dumb question when put like that.

…So what, she was just going to betray him now?

He had given her food and shelter! Clothing! Training! Resources!

But, he had also lied to her. He'd sworn not to do anything to harm her when she joined him, and this was obviously in direct violation of that.

That argument seemed to shut up the remaining part of her that still thought going back to him was the best course of action.

_I need to look out for myself, first. Just like before he came into my life._

Her mind was made up, and everything was quiet inside her mind.

It was strange. Her whole life had revolved around him. And now he was just… didn't matter.

Exorcised from her life like a tumor by a simple decision now that there was no curse seal clouding her thoughts.

She yelled out to the heavens, reveling in her new-found ability to oppose him.

"You're a fucking slimy cunt, Orochimaru!"

That was nice. She needed that.

Now she had to get these fucking logs off of her.

No curse seal. Alright. She could work with that. She could temporarily reinforce her arms to let her lift them off, but it wouldn't last very long. Seconds long. So she'd need to be quick. She drew on some chakra, and threaded it to the muscles in her arms.

"Ouuuufff." Trees were heavy. No matter what anybody said. (An echo of 'YOUTH!' came from the direction of Konoha) Even for a seventeen year-old kunoichi. Maybe someone with more muscles would have done better, but it was difficult for her.

Tayuya maneuvered the trunk over her head and to the right, putting it down on the piece she was on top of, releasing the chakra from her arms.

She almost didn't want to look. She knew it wouldn't be pretty. But she had to.

She glanced down.

Oh. Oh fuck. That… that was not good.

Her legs were, quite literally, mush.

The muscle had been mashed to a paste, and she could see white shards of bone in places she _knew_ it shouldn't be.

In some areas, it appeared as if the entire bone had been crushed at once, leaving radial fractures and exposing pink marrow to the air, at least until there was another sharp break in the bone.

Her knees were gone, nothing more than fragments showing there had even been something there. Her feet were only connected to her lower legs by thin strips of meat.

She was feeling pretty lightheaded. Was… was this what shock felt like?

It was hard associating this image with her own body, especially when she couldn't feel _any_ pain.

Where the _hell_ was it.?

Tayuya just sat there, in a daze. There was really nothing else she could do at this point.

She was more surprised she hadn't bled out. Both her femoral arteries were exposed. She could see them. So where was the blood that should have been coming out?

Something in her chest warmed up, and **tugged** on the chakra in her core, pulling it closer to her heart.

Unnerved, she focused inward and tried to figure out what was happening. Something out of the corner of her eye moved, and she yanked her attention back to reality.

Her legs were healing.

Tayuya watched in fascination as they began to knit back together, slowly picking up speed. She'd heard tales of Tsunade's _Sozo Saisen_ from Orochimaru, and how it could regenerate even lost limbs as if like magic.

But seeing her own body just fix itself from a (most definitely) fatal wound, with only a minimal drain on her chakra threw Tayuya for a loop.

She looked closer, entranced by the morbid beauty of the sight. It seemed to be less _healing_, and more… something else.

Shards of bone flew out of muscle, reassembling themselves into recognizable shapes before sinew, ligaments, and tendons flowed back over the bone.

Torn muscle reconnected itself, the blood pooled around her sucked itself back into her femoral arteries and veins.

Shredded skin moved like liquid, flattening itself out to perfect smoothness.

The best way she could think to describe it was that something had reversed what had happened to her legs. But that was insane. Time-space ninjutsu were notoriously finicky, and people who mastered them were (more often than not) considered gods among men. The Yellow Flash had fought the _Kyuubi_, and _won_.

The end result was that Tayuya was left with two _flawless_, _perfect_ legs. There was no hint of the scars she'd had before, not even the large slash on her thigh (from one of Kidōmaru's arrows) that she'd gotten in a training session.

She slowly moved them around, almost disbelieving her eyes. There was full mobility, even if there was a bit of tightness.

"Well, fuck."

It felt too good to be true.

Every technique had its drawbacks. And just because she couldn't _immediately_ identify anything that was wrong, didn't mean that there wasn't some sort of terrible price. Especially since the chakra cost had been so low. For all she knew, it could be using her life-force or something, shortening her lifespan by _years_.

Brain kicking into gear, she resolved to deal with this new development when she was safer. Right now, she was in enemy territory, and uncomfortably close to Rice Country. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and the bastard snake as she could.

Slowly propping herself up, Tayuya swung her (new? old? healed?) legs over the side of the trunk she had been on top of and landed silently on the soft forest floor, stumbling slightly from the tensing in her leg muscles.

Not at all shocking considering they had looked like ground beef less than five minutes ago.

Tayuya leaned against another nearby (upright!) tree trunk, and thought about her options.

She wasn't going back to him. She had made up her mind. And the longer she thought about that decision, the more she was determined it was the correct one. Orochimaru's hold on her mind almost seemed like it was still lessening. If that was even possible.

_Now_ the question was where to go.

Her first thought was the further away from him the better.

That pointed to Wind Country.

But to get to Wind, she'd have to travel through the heart of Fire Country, passing close by Konoha. And they were probably like an angry bee's nest right now. They would be on guard for a while. The Sound Four had woken the sleeping beast. And it was not happy.

She did _not_ want to throw herself right back into where she had come from.

They'd put her in irons, throw her in a cell, and interrogate her for weeks. And while she would be more than willing to give them information, if word leaked back to Orochimaru, he'd have someone kill her in the dead of night.

And he _did_ have sources in Konoha. So that wasn't an option.

Traveling east would bring her closer to Rice Country and, by proxy, Orochimaru.

That was also not an option.

Until she figured out exactly what sort of damage the curse seal had done to her psyche, she was going to be trying to stay as far away from that bastard as possible.

The furthest she could go west in a single day was somewhere like Waterfall Country, if she kept to the borders.

The capital of Waterfall was actually near the border with Fire Country. And it would definitely have things she needed. Like somewhere to sleep. And food.

That was looking like it might be the best course of action. She could get there in three hours… maybe two if she really pushed herself.

Waterfall it was.

* * *

Tree running gave her the chance to think over her life the past few years.

Orochimaru had always been a bit of a gamble.

Now that she was out from under the influence of the seal, she could recognize that he was a cruel bastard. A fucking brilliant one, but a bastard nonetheless.

She had also thought he didn't throw away the things that he had put effort into.

…Not that she was thinking of going back now.

It was just… her beliefs about the snake were being called into question. Obviously.

She had also thought him to be a man of his word, but the side-effects of the curse mark had shown her how wrong that was.

What else had he lied about?

She knew that the Sound Four had been little more than tools to him, but she thought he would at least honor his side of the oath to her.

Then again, he _had_ shown himself to stab partners in the back as long as it suited his goals.

She had fooled herself into believing that the same wouldn't happen to her. Not helped at all by the curse seal whispering sweet nothings in her mind, of course.

Everything came back to the seal.

She could explain being naïve at ten.

But to be so deluded as to believe that Orochimaru wouldn't, _couldn't_ betray her like she had seen countless times? Either she was naturally delusional, or artificially.

And based on how lucid and clear her mind felt now, she could definitely count this in the 'artificial' column.

Suddenly, the trees came to a clearing. It wasn't the lack of trees, but the sight in front of her that had Tayuya halt and nearly fall off of the branch she was perched on.

_Holy shit. What the hell happened here?_

For as far as the eye could see, until the beginning of trees on the opposite side, was a sea of white _things_. It was like some god had decided to turn this part of the land into a personal pincushion.

On second glance, they appeared almost organic. But nothing organic looked this white… _except bone_.

"KIMIMARO!" Against her mind screaming at her to run away, she ran towards the only shape that marred the perfect white sea.

She had never seen him in his cursed seal form. Ever. Before contracting his illness, he had been able to take on all the Sound Four at once while they were in Stage One without needing it.

_What could have pushed you to go so far?_

She drew up to mutated form of the Kaguya.

His eyes were still open, focused on something that must have been only a few feet in front of him. Dry blood colored the corners of his mouth.

_So… it finally did you in._

Kimimaro's illness was honestly the only thing she could imagine him succumbing to. Everything else was just a goal to be completed, given to him by his 'Orochimaru-sama'. He had never failed, never been defeated.

"You fucking _idiot_." She sighed.

Kimimaro had been hopelessly loyal to Orochimaru, even before the curse seal. If he was still alive now, there was no doubt that he would have been the one that Orochimaru sent to kill her, and he would have happily ended her life with his own hands, just because it was a task personally given to him.

Closing his eyes, she clapped her hands and said a prayer of ease in passing to the next life.

She could afford him this much respect as a former comrade, and if not, at least for the way he had died in battle.

_This_ had been her, only days ago. Completely devoted to Orochimaru: mind, body, and soul. Delusional to the point of blindly following and clinging to his every word. Submitting to his every whim.

Those thoughts now chilled her to the core.

Making her way to the other edge of the clearing, she looked back once, and shuddered. If there was someone who could push Kimimaro _that_ far, she wanted nothing to do with them, especially be on the other side of a fight.

All the more reason to get away from Konoha as quickly as possible.

Jumping through foliage once more, slowly making her way west, she thought about what she'd need to do.

She would have to be wary of Orochimaru's retribution for abandoning him. If he became aware she was still alive, he would more than likely send someone to kill her. If not just out of spite, then to ensure that she didn't reveal any of his secrets. She would need to lay low for a while, avoiding any and all attention. Especially from shinobi.

First things first, a change of clothes.

Her hat had fallen off in the middle of the fight, so there was nothing to do about that, which pissed her off to no end. And her rope belt had been ripped apart when those trees had fallen on her. But it was her shirt and pants that had taken the most damage.

Her shirt was torn and bloodied, the Sound Four's signature yang-yang emblem missing from the apron-like front.

_That's one good thing at least_ One less identifier for anyone to catch onto.

The real problem was that her skintight black shorts were completely shredded.

At this point, they _barely_ served the purpose of preserving her dignity. She might not care much about modesty (growing up with four other guys tended to do that), but it would still be hard to explain walking into a town without any pants on.

After she had got some new clothes, room and board would be next. While she could fast for a few days and not suffer any bad effects, it wasn't comfortable, and something soft to sleep on for the night would be go a long way to making her muscles feel less sore after being pulped.

But then what?

She had no real skills outside combat.

It was times like these that she really regretted not branching out.

Some of the more obscure ninja arts, like fūinjutsu or iryōjutsu were _very_ useful outside of battle, and could even bring in a sizable income.

Unfortunately, Tayuya had personally learned from Kabuto that she did not have the temperament for being a medic.

Fūinjutsu, on the other hand, had to be taught by a seal master. Or the one learning tended to blow themselves up with a malformed seal. And while fūinjutsu _was_ something she was interested in, the number of seal masters she knew of could be counted on one hand, and the ones who would be _willing_ to teach her on none.

Music was the only real marketable skill she had, but playing for other people? Baring her songs for the masses? She would be more comfortable with waltzing naked through Konoha this very second. The ones she used to control her doki were simple tunes (comparatively). But the ones she wrote, that no one but her had every heard, they were her _soul_. Literally. She could not compose a song that did not reflect herself at some base, inner level. And she would **die** before anyone knew the contents of those.

So music was clearly out. Maybe she could ask around at the place she stayed and see if anyone needed help.

…As long as it wasn't dealing with customers.

Tayuya was well aware of her language problems, as Jirōbō was more than willing to remind her of.

She just didn't give a shit.

Yeah, dealing with a couple of bad customers would have her fired faster than she could say "fuck".

She'd just have to cross her fingers and hope for the best.

* * *

The light that filtered through the trees slowly began to take on an orange hue, and Tayuya noted that she'd been running for close to 3 hours now, long enough that she would soon cross the invisible border into Waterfall Country.

Since she was crossing from the edges of Iron (where it wasn't tits-freezing cold), the village that she was aiming for would be slightly less than half an hour away.

The tightness in her legs had eased, but the hours of running were beginning to catch up to her.

She'd had no water, except for a couple streams she'd come across early in her journey. With no way to transport it, she'd only been able to drink a little before needing to move on.

She wasn't feeling hungry, but that was normal. Part of her training had required going for long periods of time without food, and she had developed a distinct lack of appetite during that time.

A ninja couldn't be distracted by hunger in the middle of a battle, so she had trained herself to not feel hunger. Eating was instead done on a schedule when not on a mission, and when convenient on one. If the Sound Four had known they were going into a dangerous situation, they didn't eat at all for a day before that.

There were downsides to not feeling hunger, such as the potential to starve to death without noticing, but Tayuya hadn't ever really had any problems with it so far.

Thirst was easier to deal with, simply carrying enough water to last a day, and then replenishing that whenever there was an available water source.

Unfortunately, since that Sasuke-prick's abduction was supposed to be a quick in-and-out, she'd neglected to bring her water pouch with her. And since _that_ was at Orochimaru's base with the rest of her (admittedly few) things, there was no chance of her ever seeing it again.

The snake-face had required them to live simply, ready to pick up and leave to another of his hidey-holes at a moment's notice, so the thing she had treasured the most, her flute, had always been on her.

The only other things she really had were ninja tools and a couple scrolls on music as a vehicle for auditory genjutsu intended for beginners. She was so far beyond them that it was laughable.

So there wasn't anything that she really regretted leaving behind.

Her flute, though.

She took a moment to feel sadness at its loss and anger at herself for letting her pride get the best of her. It had slipped from her fingers just as the tree she had been standing on was hit by that girl's attack. And then only a few feet in front of her face, a blade of wind had sliced it in half.

_I'm lucky it wasn't __**me**__ that got hit by that._

It wasn't that the flute itself was special, in fact, it was actually fairly simple and low-quality. But it had been with her for years, and she had grown attached to it.

Tayuya didn't blame the bitch for its destruction, but she still resented the fact that it happened. And if they were ever on opposite sides of a fight again, that fan would make a _great_ battle trophy. Otherwise, she'd let it go.

One of the core tenants of being a ninja that most people seemed to forget was that a shinobi had to let go of their emotions on the battlefield. This included petty things like revenge. Unfortunately, even the most experienced shinobi sometimes succumbed to their emotions, leading to things as terrible as war.

She'd seen it first hand.

Had felt it.

She'd never forget the bloodline purges of Kiri. How because 'normal' shinobi succumbed to their fear of the power of a family's bloodline, they committed mass genocide in the name of 'cleansing the ranks'.

It had been one of her first missions as a ninja for Orochimaru. Go and 'collect' bloodline samples. She had selectively ignored that the samples were living humans, to be transported in the dead of night to a designated drop off area.

As a new ninja, she was unprepared for the terrible things she witnessed. Sure, she had killed (in the sterile environment of one of Orochimaru's labs), but seeing families turn against each other? Sister against brother, parent against child? Killing as though those gifted with special abilities were nothing more than a diseased dog that needed to be put down, simply from fear?

She had never been more glad than in that moment that Orochimaru had found her.

Because _this could have been her_.

And because of that, she had sworn to never let emotions compromise her ability as a ninja or influence her decisions. As a shinobi, she was a living breathing weapon. And weapons did not have emotions. But when not acting as an official ninja, she was a person. And people did have emotions.

Her two sides were separate, and she worked never to let them overlap. Whenever she was in a fight, it was like a switch was flipped. She was no longer 'Tayuya', she was 'The North Gate'. She had relied on Orochimaru's hand to direct her, because she herself had no will when acting as a shinobi.

Unlike what most people assumed, the personality she used in battle had no _true_ feelings behind it. It was merely a hollow façade modeled after her normal self. Inside, she became cold, logical, and calculating.

It had never failed her, until now.

She had lost control in her fight with the shadow user, and became arrogant in her abilities. And it had led to her defeat.

It was a mistake she wouldn't let happen again.

* * *

The trees in front of Tayuya parted, and houses and shops sprung up in her sight. A short, small booth sat in the middle of the road, and in it stood a man who looked more an assistant than a guard. She decided not to deal with him, and hopped down onto the road just beyond it.

The capital appeared to be laid out well, with inns and restaurants for travelers near the edge.

On a second look, they also appeared to be the most expensive.

She decided to look around further in to see if there was anything cheaper. The limited amount of money she had for emergencies that was carried in the small storage scroll secured inside her breast bindings on her right would not be able to fund both clothes and a nights rest at prices like that.

Wandering around the main roads, she finally found a shop that had simple synthetic leggings, close enough to what she was already wearing that she wouldn't notice the difference.

When she entered, the woman at the counter had looked down her nose disdainfully at the sight of her shorts, and Tayuya made a concerted effort to ignore the hag, so that her mouth wouldn't get her thrown out. After paying the cashier, she counted her money and groaned.

They had required a third of her funds. _And_ had been the cheapest she could find in the area.

Taking the pair of pants from the counter, she stepped into the dressing room and tore the price tag from them, removing her sandals and her (almost nonexistent) shorts.

And then she saw the state of her underwear.

Biting her tongue so the cashier wouldn't hear the stream of obscenities flowing through her mind, she thought about what her options were. They weren't really any better off than her pants. That is to say, completely shredded. But she couldn't afford a new pair _and_ still find a place stay. And that was what clinched it. She would just have to go commando for a few days.

Moving to take off the offending pair of boyshorts, she just sighed as they disintegrated beneath her touch. Slipping into her new pants, she stretched them out so that the her skin would get used to the material quicker. It wasn't like this was the first time she had gone underwear-less, but it was still annoying.

Quickly exiting the shop, she moved off of the main roads. She would have better luck with cheaper lodges away from centers of economic activity. Slowly making her way down a small, dirt road lined by western-style two-story houses, she saw one that appeared to have a sign in front of it. Moving across the street, she could read the sign that proudly proclaimed "Izumo Inn".

_Well, at least it should be cheaper than some of the places on the main street_

Walking up to the door, she could hear muffled arguing coming from inside.

A loud, warm baritone echoed through the door as footsteps seemed to be coming closer.

"Be quiet, woman. I _said_ I'd do it, and I'll damn well do it. I'll get to it when I– Oh. Hello there, pretty lady. Sorry, didn't even hear you knock." The apparent owner of the voice was a wrinkled man with fading grey hair and warm brown eyes that seemed to sparkle as soon as they had seen her. "Are you looking for a room?"

Tayuya blushed despite herself. It wasn't often she was called pretty, even in passing. She had been caught off guard. "Y-Yeah. I am. And I didn't. Knock." She stumbled over her words, forcing them out by sheer will.

"Maaaa. No matter. What matters is you're here, and you need a place to stay." He turned back towards the genkan. "YOMI! WE GOT A LIVE ONE!"

"Um, I don't have much to pay you wi–"

"Don't need it. We'd put you up even if you couldn't." With that, the man's eyes hardened, allowing her no room to argue. And then quickly shifted back to warm. "We just like helpin' people."

A short woman came around the corner into the entryway. She appeared to be close to the same age as the man in front of Tayuya, but her hair fell in waves of amber to her shoulders, while her eyes were a sharp blue. "Oooh isn't she adorable! You just come in. Don't mind Shin."

The man, now identified as Shin, stepped aside to let her into the doorway, closing the door as she entered. Remembering her manners (the few that she still had), she slipped her sandals off her feet and stepped onto the small ledge.

The woman, who she assumed was Yomi, spoke up. "Why don't we go to the front room so we can discuss your stay, hm? I'll just go get some tea." With that, she disappeared around the corner again.

Shin moved around Tayuya and began walking towards one of the rooms on the right. "We don't really get much use for the room, so Yomi jumps at every opportunity to use it."

Caught up in their actions, it was all she could do to go along.

He slid open the door and motioned for her to move in. Inside, there were cushions arranged around a table that rose to about mid-calf.

_Damn._ Seiza was not a position she enjoyed being in.

Shin walked around to the other side of the table, and lowered himself into sitting cross-legged with a satisfied sigh. Looking up, he saw Tayuya's expression of relief. "What, you didn't think we were gonna make you sit on your knees did ya? Hell, I can't stand it even if I could still sit like that."

Taking a seat at the cushion on the opposite side of the table, she allowed her muscles to slowly relax. Not too much, she still needed to be ready if anything happened, but enough that she didn't feel like a wound spring anymore. The door to the left of Tayuya slid open, and Yomi entered with a tray of earthenware cups.

Setting the tray on the table, she shut the door behind her, and then took the next to Shin, sitting with her legs to her side. Taking a cup off of the tray, she passed it to Tayuya. She gave the next one to Shin, and then put the last one in front of herself.

Shin opened his mouth "So wha–". Yomi swatted his leg, cutting him off.

"Be quiet and drink your tea first. Don't let it go cold."

Rolling his eyes, Shin picked up his cup, and motioned for Tayuya to do the same. Cautiously, minding the temperature of the liquid (and in case it had any poisons), she took a sip. Her eyes shot open.

"Good stuff, huh? Yomi makes the best tea."

"Oh, hush you. Flattery will get you nowhere." But a smile still curled at the edges of her mouth.

They sat for a few minutes, merely enjoying the tea before it grew cold.

"So. As I was saying. What brings you to Se-shi, the 'city of raging water'?" Shin asked, putting air quotes around the title.

Being mindful of her language, Tayuya thought up an appropriate response. "I'm just passing through. I only wanted to rest for a few days before leaving."

Shin nodded sagely. "We can easily put you up for a few days." He narrowed his eyes and looked at her. Tayuya shifted uncomfortably beneath his gaze. "But it seems like you've got something else to ask, too."

She was slightly disconcerted by how easily this old man was reading her. "I was thinking about looking for somewhere to work. I, uh, don't really have any money, and these are my only clothes due to an …unfortunate event."

"Well, we'll do what we can to help."

Tayuya's face betrayed her shock at their apparent ease of assisting her when she had nothing to give in return.

"Is that really so hard to believe? I already told you: we like helping people. Anyways, about the job. I don't really know anyone in the city who's looking for work, but a friend of mine up in Takigakure usually needs help around this time of year. Something about some kind of festival."

Tayuya froze.

Going to Takigakure would be pushing her luck. As far as she knew, she hadn't made it into their bingo book, but the place was still swarming with potential enemy ninja.

Shin must have misread her, because he simply waved a hand and continued. "No need to be nervous, I'm sure you'd do just fine."

Yomi, who had been silently listening to Shin talk, spoke up. "Thinking about it, we might have some clothes left from when Sei-chan was still living here. I'd have to look in the attic to be sure."

Shin nodded, his eyes closed. "Seikyo's clothes would probably fit you. You're about the same size."

"About paying–"

He held up his hand and stopped her. "Don't worry about it. Really. The money would be better of with you anyways, from what I can tell." Yomi 'hm-ed' in agreement. "If that's all, Yomi can show you your room."

"Just follow me, dear"

Standing up, Shin collected the empty cups and the tray. Tayuya followed Yomi through the door that led to the hallway, and then further back into the house to a set of stairs. "Your room will be the first door on the left just at the top. Not that there's anyone else. Dinner is at 8." Yomi walked away towards another part of the house in the opposite direction.

Tayuya felt like she had just walked through a tornado.

What the _hell_ had just happened? It had gone too quickly for her to even say anything against them.

Tayuya walked up the staircase, and was surprised at the number of doors on the second floor. There must have been eight or nine.

_And all of these are empty?_

Opening the first door on the left, she entered a modest size-room with a simple layout. A single bed sat in the back corner, with a dresser as the foot of it. Curtains hung over a window that looked out on the backyard of the house. The room was colored a pale yellow, warm, but not blinding.

There wasn't much to do, except just sit and wait until dinner.

Well, she _could_ go take a bath.

Tayuya eyed the bloodstains on her arms.

Yeah. A bath would do her some good.

* * *

**A/N:**

Lots of excitement for our favorite foul-mouthed female.

Yes. There are OCs in this story. There are almost no canon characters from the Land of Waterfall.

However, OCs do not get much focus in comparison to canon characters. They're simply used as vehicles for the plot and to push character development. Don't expect them to start whipping out techniques or fighting.

It's one of the perils of writing with minor characters as your leads.

I'm curious if anybody notices what I did with Shin, Yomi, and Seikyo's names. Heh.

If you've managed to make it this far, chances are you're considering giving this an honest read. Fair warning, this is a character-interaction driven fic, so it starts out slow, but eventually the pace picks up significantly.


	2. Matters of Trust

**Disclaimer:**

Did shinobi regularly go through traumatic events, without having any required therapy or mental evaluations? If so, I don't own Naruto, or any of that universe.

* * *

**Chapter Two:**  
**Matters of Trust**

Tayuya woke in a cold sweat.

Her heart was beating rapidly, thudding in her chest, blood pounding in her ears. The dream (nightmare?) she had been having quickly faded into a haze, and she grasped vainly at the few threads of it that remained.

All she could remember was a man with off-color red hair leaning over her, whispering something, and then inky darkness. She gripped the sheets of the bed tighter, searching for any sort of remnant, anything, but there was nothing.

Sitting up in the bed (bed?), she tried to remember where she was. This wasn't her room at any of Orochimaru's various bolt-holes, as those all had futons in the rooms for simplicity's sake.

Suddenly _very_ awake, she glanced around the room, scanning for potential threats. And then the previous day came rushing back. All of the things that had happened.

How she had been sent to ferry that Uchiha brat with the rest of the Sound Four. How Konoha's retrieval team (which they'd been trying to avoid completely by doing this at night) had slowly split the group up. How she had gotten paired with another Yin-chakra user, a shadow-wielder. How she had almost defeated him before her emotions had gotten the best of her, and that wind-bitch came in and sliced up the forest.

And _that_ wasn't even the weird stuff.

How she had woken up, with her legs crushed, and couldn't even feel pain. How the curse seal was suddenly gone, as though it was never there. How she was _instantly_ willing to turn her back on Orochimaru. How, after extracting her legs from beneath the crushing weight of the trees, she had been healed, better than before. How she had traveled for hours non-stop (had she really not stopped?), and then arrived in the capitol of Waterfall Country. How she had found this inn… place, and had decided to stay _after only a few minutes in the company of the owners_.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. That was a rookie mistake.

She knew better than that. Never trust strangers in unknown territory. Luckily, she hadn't been drugged or anything (that she could tell), and the owners _seemed_ sincere enough.

The conversation from dinner floated to the front of her mind, and Tayuya groaned as she realized that she had given them her real name. She really should have been more careful. A seasoned ninja _shouldn't_ have done those things.

It appeared that all of the events yesterday, while not outwardly traumatizing, had left her off-balance and vulnerable. At least it seemed that she hadn't gotten herself into a situation she couldn't handle one way or another. Especially now that she was on her own, without the others to deal with.

Shifting her legs off the mattress, she stood and walked quietly over to the window. The sun was just over the horizon, so it couldn't have been too early. The grass in the backyard glistened in the warm light, and she allowed herself a brief moment in the sun, letting it warm her arms and face.

Muffled sound came from the floor, and she decided it would be best just to get this over with. Her clothes from yesterday (old shirt, new shorts) were on a chair in the corner, and she went over and put the pants on. The oversized white shirt that Yomi had shoved into her arms as Tayuya had been going upstairs after dinner would have to do for now.

Going out into the hallway, Tayuya almost tripped over a large cardboard box sitting just to the side of the door. Cursing under her breath, she bent down to get a better look. In large, bold characters, it had "Seikyo's Old Clothes" written on the top in some sort of permanent marker.

By this point, if the owners hadn't tried anything, she was _probably_ safe.

Opening the box, she was stunned by how much was in it. Formal and informal kimono, a couple beautifully patterned yukata, some simple tops (long-sleeve, short-sleeve, and sleeveless), and three pairs of divided hakama. And that was just at the top of the box. Reaching in and pulling out one of the tank-tops, she moved back into the room.

She removed the rather large t-shirt, and frowned at the bit of black that peaked out of the top of her chest wrap. Yesterday when getting ready to take her bath, she had been shocked silent upon finding a rather large diamond-shaped _thing_ on her chest.

It sat between her breasts, reaching from just below the top of her sternum to the base, about four and a half inches by her estimate. It looked like some sort of stylized knot, with no beginning nor end, but was made up of absolutely minuscule kanji that she hadn't even come close to being able to read.

If she hadn't looked closely, she would have mistaken it for a tattoo. But the teensy characters had given it away. It was some sort of seal. But _far_ more complex and compressed than anything she had ever seen, even in Orochimaru's research.

It hadn't been there yesterday, which gave some weight to the theory that it might be responsible for that weird healing had occurred. And at the same time, she somehow knew in her gut, that this was _not_ a seal she wanted undone. Unlike the curse seal, which she disliked while it was present, and hated now that it wasn't, she knew that somehow, this seal was important for her well-being.

It _seemed_ to be only benevolent or benign.

Her cautious side warned her that she should still seek out someone who knew what the fuck they were doing with seals and see if they had any ideas on the what the hell it _actually_ did. She wouldn't want them messing with it, but it would be important to get as much information as possible. Regardless, it looked like she was stuck with it, and she could probably handle not knowing for a short while.

Not to mention, sealing experts weren't exactly commonplace. She knew of one. Jiraiya. And there was _no_ fucking chance she would ever willingly go to him after her role in all the shit that had happened recently.

Relaxing from her momentary concentration, she reached for the tank top and put it on. Delicious smells wafted in to the room from downstairs. Breakfast. If it was anything like the dinner she'd had last night, she really didn't want to miss it.

Walking down the stairs, the sounds of Shin and Yomi talking about something (miso paste thickness?) came from the room where they had had dinner the night before.

She walked in as silently as she could, but Shin still perked up and turned around to greet her.

"Well good morning, young lady. Get enough of your beauty sleep?"

Tayuya just nodded. If one of the boys had said that to her, she would have punched their lights out for it. She didn't really know how to respond to someone like Shin teasing her though.

"Come on and sit down, we just started eating." Shin said, motioning at one of the free seats around the low table. Unlike the front room where they had had tea, this room had a short table at the center, and a recessed floor beneath it where you put your legs. Cushions sat around the table, so that you didn't have to sit on the hard floor while eating.

She moved around the table and sat down cross-legged, serving herself some rice, miso soup, and a piece of fish from the dishes surrounding her.

"Oh good, I'm glad you found the clothes", Yomi said. _More like nearly broke my fucking toes on them._ "So how do they fit? Do they work alright?"

"Uh, yeah. I think so. You're really giving them to me?" Tayuya asked. There had been a _lot_, and she hadn't even gone through the whole box.

"Well yes, I don't see us using them. And Seikyo-chan outgrew them a long time ago." Yomi frowned. "So really it's up to you if you want to take them all or not. Do you not like them?"

Tayuya backpedaled. "No! It's not that! I'm… It's just, there was some really expensive looking stuff in there." Some of the clothes had been _more_ than a little flowery for her tastes, but beggars can't be choosers. And those were really only the more formal pieces she had seen. Everything else looked like they were more to her preference: solid colors, greys, whites.

Yomi's expression softened. "Yes, they're for you. Every girl needs to be able to dress up every so often. Even ninja like yourself."

**What.**

Tayuya's blood froze in her veins, her heart suddenly beating three times as fast. Her face hardened, and she wondered if she could kill the two of them, and then get out of town before anyone noticed.

A wave of killing intent rolled over her, making her gag and freeze where she was before it let up just as quickly.

"Tayuya!" She unconsciously moved to grab the knife next to her on the table. "Whoa! Easy there." She noted that the pair of them hadn't even really moved, other than Shin holding his hands up. Why weren't they fighting back?

"Calm down. We're not doing anything. See? Nothing's wrong, nobody's going to hurt you." With no small amount of effort, she moved her hand back to where it had been resting at the edge of the table. What was going on?

Shin sighed. "Jeez, it's like you're on a hair trigger." Seeing that she at least wasn't about to attack them, Shin brought his hands down. "You _really_ could have brought that up a little better, ya know?"

Yomi tittered away behind a hand, while her eyes twinkled. "Allow an old woman her simple pleasures."

Shin rolled his eyes in exasperation. "She was half a second away from attacking us. I don't think that's worth it."

"You could have handled her." What? Shin didn't look like he could hurt a fly, much less a kunoichi in her prime.

"So? Doesn't mean I want to, this early in the morning." he grumped.

Tayuya attempted to regain what little sanity seemed to remain in the situation. "B-but. Wha-. When? How?"

"Girl, we knew you were a ninja the second you walked in the door. It changes how you walk, how you act. Not many shinobi know how to blend back in with the normal people after living like that for very long. You stood out like a sore thumb."

"Then why the fuck did you just let me in? You could have turned me in or something!" That made no sense! Why wouldn't they have done that?

"Because you didn't give us any reason to." Shin replied. Yomi nodded at this, and Shin's eyes hardened.

"Oh, don't think I wasn't prepared. If you had shown any signs of intending to hurt us, you would have found yourself dead quicker than you could blink. I wasn't known as the _Shi no Shinigami_ for nothing." He rubbed his head, looking a little embarrassed at the admission.

"Maa. Those days are behind me. Thank Kami I was allowed to retire after the last Shinobi War. Point is, this is an inn. We help people. When you showed up on the doorstep yesterday, you needed a place to rest. And that's what we do. I like to think that helping people now makes up for all the shit I had to do in the war."

Tayuya deflated. There went her conspiracy theories and (seemingly justified) paranoia.

"To be honest, you seemed pretty lost. Dazed. Still do." Yomi made a sound of agreement. "Now that you know about us, well, me at least, and that we're not gonna hurt you, maybe you can tell us what's going on? See if we can't seem to do somethin' about it."

Tayuya opened her mouth to tell them to fuck off. To tell them that it wasn't their business, their _right_, to pry into her life. She was cut off by Yomi, who got up from the table and went to the kitchen. When she came back, she had a cup of hot tea in her hands. She set it down in front of Tayuya. "When you're ready, dear." she said, sitting back at her place.

Tayuya's mouth clicked shut. They had been nothing but kind to her. Letting them into their own _home_ when they didn't know who she was or what her intentions were. They had trusted her.

She hadn't trusted anyone enough to talk to them, _really_ talk to them, since Tanzaku Gai. She abhorred the level of exposure and sense of vulnerability that relationships like that entailed. She'd learned about the sort of pain they could bring the hard way.

But these two strangers had done more for her in the past twelve hours than anyone else had for her. _Ever_. Could she trust them? Trust them not to abuse that trust? Maybe… maybe she could just start with talking about something small and see how far she got. Like how she got to the city.

"I was in a fight yesterday." Shin's face shifted into a deadpan expression, as if to convey '_you don't say_'.

"I-I guess that was pretty fuckin' obvious with my clothes, huh?" Her hands felt uncomfortable not doing anything, and she moved to continue eating her rice. "Well, uh, that fight brought… a lot of things I believed in into question. Like my employer." The fucking cunt.

"You didn't know if you could trust them anymore." Shin said, nodding. "Lotta missing-nin feel the same way when they defect." His eyes narrowed. "But I get the feeling you weren't affiliated with a village."

How did he guess that? "I wasn't. Not really." Ugh. This was easier than she expected, but it was also uncomfortable. But she knew that if she didn't work through the discomfort, she'd never be able to find out if she really should have trusted them or not. And she got the sense that that deciding not to try would be a decision that would haunt her the rest of her life. So she continued on. "I worked for some-_one_ not some-_where_" She fidgeted, twirling her chopsticks.

"Who?" Yomi asked. "Anyone we'd know about?"

Tayuya snorted in amusement. "More than likely." She took a breath and let it out with a sigh. "I was with Orochimaru."

Shin whistled. "The snake Sannin? I heard stories of him in the war. Before he dropped off the radar. There've been some nasty rumors about him coming out of Fire Country."

Tayuya put her chopsticks down, and reached for the tea Yomi had brought her, now that it was cool enough to drink. She was trying to keep a straight face. Not to let her emotions boil over. Her feelings about Orochimaru were more than a little raw right now. "All those fucking rumors? They're true. And then there's the shit you _don't_ hear about." Yomi's face became questioning and Tayuya took a sip to calm herself.

She felt something wet at the corner of her eye, and hastily wiped it away. "He uses a seal, similar to the enslavement seals that were outlawed a century ago. I had one. It literally invades your body. Becomes impossible to remove. I thought that was all it did. Heh." She laughed at herself darkly in self-depreciation. A trail of warmth rolled down her cheek.

Tayuya took a shuddering breath. Why the hell was she telling them all this? And why the _fuck_ was she crying? She wasn't some weak little girl. Right?

She didn't really know anything anymore. Her entire world had been tore apart yesterday. But it felt good, telling someone. Someone who wouldn't judge you. Who wouldn't care. It was the first thing she was doing that felt right to her in a long time. And she didn't want that to stop.

"Yesterday, I found out it fucks with your mind too. Turns you into a sycophant. The 'perfect little soldier'. Not a mindless puppet, but pretty fucking close. I just didn't care while it was happening."

_At least we were only influenced towards being better tools, instead of becoming mindless experiments_, she thought bitterly. She quickly wiped the hot trails on her face away and took another deep breath, trying to calm her thoughts and emotions, even if just a little.

"I can remember thinking that he was amazing, like he was the greatest man on earth, before I started fighting it. And yesterday, after my fight, it just disappeared. The seal was just… gone. And I could think for myself again."

Her thoughts immediately became angry, furious. "_How could he do that to us?_ I gave him my fucking life!" At this confession, her emotions boiled over, and the tears started flowing on their own. Whether they were in anger, or weakness, or self-disgust, she didn't know. This _wasn't_ weak, right?

Yomi moved around the table and started rubbing her back as droplets fell from her eyes on to the white porcelain plate in front of her on the table. How long had it been since someone had comforted her? Eight years? At the least.

Shin looked very old at all of the revelations, and seemed to be in thought. Yomi just held her, soothing her. It was so embarrassing, but it felt so _right_ to let it all out.

After that, her walls crumbled, and the rest of the story slowly came out. What it was like growing up, being slowly groomed by him. How hard the training had been. The deathmatches. All the years that she could remember, up until the incident yesterday. She left nothing out.

She didn't think she could have.

* * *

Once everything had calmed down they had a simple lunch, as Yomi didn't have time to prepare anything special. Plain rice with steamed pork and vegetables. Leftovers from the night before. Tayuya didn't mind. She didn't really pay attention to the food anyway. She was more focused on the couple across from her. They communicated with almost no words, just a movement or a glance, and Tayuya knew that they must have been married for a long time to reach that level of familiarity.

She'd never allowed anyone to get close to her, instead maintaining an abrasive, caustic personality to keep them away. Her frequent cursing was part of that, a trait she'd picked up from living on the streets. Not that she really cared what anyone else thought of her language. As Jirōbō knew better than anyone, the sexist pig. She'd never sought the approval of anyone other than Orochimaru, and he hadn't cared. All he had cared about was how effeciently they worked.

They finished lunch, and Yomi took the dishes out to the kitchen to be washed later, before returning to the table and sitting to the right of Shin.

Shin started off. "So. It looks like you've got a couple options, and a few choices to make." What did that mean? Were they going to kick her out or something? They must have picked up her impression, because Shin immediately went on. "You're more welcome to stay here for a while, but that may not be the best option. For one, if Orochimaru hears about you staying here, there's no ninja corps in Se-shi. You'd be on your own for dealing with him. Despite what I like to think, I'm in no shape for a tussle with Sannin." She frowned. He had a point that she hadn't thought of.

"In that line of thinking, I can send message to my friend in Takigakure, the one I mentioned before. Then you can travel up there a couple days later. That way he can vouch for you, and you'd be in a pretty safe area if anything happened. Taki wouldn't take too kindly to Orochimaru showing up, and I doubt he'd want to deal with open conflict in a hidden village, despite, no _especially_ with what happened in Konoha." She had told them how he had lost the use of both his arms, and now had to rely on Kabuto to do almost everything. "You'd have a job, and be protected at the same time."

There was no decision for her to make. This was the only choice she really had. The only one that would keep her alive for the next few months.

"Alright. I'll take it."

* * *

**A/N:**

As always, please review! Tell me what you like, dislike, etc. Every little thing helps.


	3. A Strange Girl

**Disclaimer:**

Did anybody ever try to befriend Naruto because they saw how bad his situation was? If not, I don't own _Naruto_, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 3:**  
**A Strange Girl**

Tayuya hitched the traveling pack higher on her shoulders. She was on the road to Takigakure, but walking instead of tree-running like usual. It was actually rather relaxing, despite the pace she was setting for herself. Waterfall Country was mostly forest, similar to Fire Country, and the trees provided a cool relief from the beating sun. The reason she was walking was so that she wouldn't draw the attention of any local shinobi, and _acting_ like a ninja would do exactly that.

Luckily, there was a direct road from Se-shi to the Hidden Waterfall Village. It was a long day's trip by walking (only 5 hours running), but she was determined to do it in one day. Yamada (Shin's friend) had said he'd be at the gates both today and tomorrow, but she didn't want to deal with sleeping outside if she could help it. Because of that, she had woken up early, only eating a small breakfast with Shin and Yomi, to make sure she had enough time.

The backpack (and its contents) had been a gift from Shin. It was his old traveling pack from when he had to do long-term missions. Inside were scrolls, a large bottle of water, and a very large lunch that Yomi had made the night before "to make sure she didn't go hungry".

The scrolls contained the clothes Yomi had given her, but there were also a few that Shin had written himself that contained a couple of his techniques. Seikyo hadn't become a ninja, so he had no one to teach them to. _Apparently_ he had decided that she was the next best candidate. The scrolls he'd sent with her were basic chakra exercises that she was already half-way done with, but he promised to send along more once she had mastered them.

The past week she had spent with them had been both relaxing and enlightening.

Yomi had taken her under her wing, and the woman had been dead-set on teaching Tayuya proper cooking methods. Tayuya had been embarrassed to admit that she didn't really know much about cooking, and couldn't do much more than boil water. Now, she could at least cook rice and fish, and make a passable set of steamed vegetables. While cooking, Yomi had told her about Seikyo, their daughter. Seikyo had moved to Ame for a job, doing "something with weird plastic" that was apparently both very technical and lucrative. She still visted every year, but couldn't get away from her job very often.

Shin had told her stories of the Third Shinobi World War, and taught her some of the more advanced chakra techniques. She had soaked up his lessons on nature transformation like a wet sponge, and the things he had taught her helped Tayuya understand some of her own techniques. Her ability to use Yin-chakra was more of a genetic trait, and she didn't consciously create it, it just existed when she needed it.

They had found that she had a dual affinity of water and wind, which had been a little surprising. Shin had a wind nature, and was able to show her the basic exercises for that nature, but he had no idea where to start with water. What was really shocking (for both Tayuya and Shin) was that evidently she was some sort of prodigy with nature conversion, managing to split a piece of paper between her palms in less than half a day.

His stories about the war were not nearly as cheerful, but no less captivating or educational. During the Third Shinobi War, he had been a part of an ANBU-level assassination squad, which explained how assured and calm he had been during their confrontation that first morning. Even at 62, he could still beat her six ways to Sunday with taijutsu alone.

Part of being an assassin had been for Shin to know his targets _very_ well. Despite his nickname of the "Reaper of Death" (given to him by teammates, half in jest), in the end he hadn't been able to take the self-loathing and pain that came from knowing that he was destroying families and creating orphans. So he had requested a transfer to guard duty in Takigakure, where the couple (and their young daughter) had been living at the time.

Once the war had ended, they moved to Se-shi, where they purchased the Inn. Seikyo had helped out for a few years, but ended up leaving to go to school in Ame. Since then, the Inn had slowly lost its client base, as Se-shi had grown and newer hotels and inns had been built closer to the entrance. There were still a few people that stayed with them whenever they passed through the town, but for the most part the Inn was now empty most of the year.

Tayuya had quickly come to the conclusion that coming across a couple like this, that went out of their way to help someone _they didn't even know_, was one-in-a-million. Most people, if they had seen her on that first day, would have been either ambivalent to the point of negligence, or even worse, acted kindly and then turned around and betrayed her. She was _extremely_ lucky to have run into them while she was as emotionally compromised as she had been. Less kind people would have taken advantage of that weakness.

It was almost surreal that they had been so accepting of her. She had told them as much, they had just waved it off, saying that most people didn't get such attention from them, but she had truly seemed like she needed it.

And she had. After talking to both of them, and spending time around them, she realized that she _needed_ to have relationships with other people. Meaningful ones. Not just the distanced interpersonal interactions she had had with the rest of the Sound Four. Or the one-sided admiration that she had felt towards Orochimaru. But relationships where she could trust a person, and actually talk to them.

After that, Shin and Yomi had easily taken up the roles of slightly crazy uncle and doting aunt her in mind. They offered a point of stability that went miles to help Tayuya deal with her various emotional upsets and revelations easier. Instead of allowing her to internalize her negative feelings, they made her express them, and she was left feeling that much less weighed down because of it.

She made a mental note to try and act less abrasive on first impressions. She hadn't even gotten the chance in Se-shi, as Shin had had her off-balance from the first time he'd spoken to her. Usually though, first meetings went something like:

"My name's Tayuya. I don't like being forced to work with someone else. So try and stay the fuck out of my way."

She grimaced. Yeah, that was definitely _not_ a good way to start anything like she wanted. It had worked great when she was keeping people at arms length, as most people usually outright avoided her after that. But emotional connections? Not so much.

She'd just have to work on it, and in the meantime try and be sincere. It was the best she could do, as her rusty people skills didn't really give her much else to work with.

Tayuya sighed. Living like a civilian was going to be a real adjustment. Going from streets, to Orochimaru's hideouts, to better quarters in the hideouts, and now to civilian housing. Those were all steps up. But she was going to miss the privileges that came from being considered an important ninja, like she had been.

All she could do was hope for the best.

* * *

Shin's friend Yamada was like white rice. Plain. Dull. Bland. And traditional.

He made masks. During most of the year, he ran his shop by himself. There was plenty of stock, and not much demand. Because of this, he was commissioned by the Takigakure's shinobi corps to design and paint most of their ANBU masks. Which was how he knew Shin.

It was funny how things worked like that. He was an artist, which one would think would be _more_ prone to eccentricities due to the creative nature of his craft. But Yamada managed to defy logic, and be all the more boring in spite of it.

This time of year, Takigakure was preparing for its annual festival to celebrate the giant tree that grew in the middle of the village. Tayuya didn't really get it. But it gave her a job, and therefore money, so she wasn't complaining too much.

Her primary task was to prepare uncut, gnarly pieces of wood for use. This involved stripping the piece of bark (if it had any), examining it for any major knots that would make cutting it more difficult, removing them if possible, and then cutting it to Yamada's specifications. This resulted in what he called a 'blank'. He would then take the blank, carve it into the likeness of something, and then paint it. He did series, so there were a bunch of fox masks, for example. At the end of the day, once they were dry, she had to pack them into a box in preparation for selling them at festival, while Yamada came up with the design for the next day.

His masks were _very_ popular from what he'd told her. And from the amount they were making, she believed him. Because he didn't have half as many stocked in the store as they had made already.

It was hard, sweaty, dirty work. And she liked it. She could have done worse with a job. At least she wasn't stuck arranging flowers or making tea in a shop. This suited her much better.

He lived in a small house on the west side of the village. It had a craft workshop attached to it, which is where they worked. He also had a small flat above the storefront, and she was allowed to stay in it for a portion of her pay. She was on her own for food, though. So what usually ended up happening was she'd go to a shop down the street, get breakfast, and then go to the store at the corner and pick up a bentō for lunch.

She ate dinner on her own, experimenting with the dishes she had learned from Yomi. Tayuya had asked her for a few recipes in a letter she had sent, and the woman had been delighted to send her a few easy things. She still wasn't much further past fish and rice, but she was trying. Eating her own food really pushed her to improve.

Last Friday (she'd only been there a week), she'd gone out to eat at a nearby grill with her first week's pay in hand. It was surprisingly satisfying knowing that she had _worked_ for this meal. While she knew in her mind that there was really nothing different about the food itself, it was the feeling of accomplishment that she allowed herself to enjoy.

On her days off (the weekend), she split her time up between daily morning exercises, learning from Shin's scrolls, and researching the new seal on her chest. While the first two had been rewarding (she had been waking _very_ early in order to get her morning katas in before work), the last had yielded nothing. Zilch.

She'd gone to the library and asked about information on sealing, but without proper shinobi identification, the best she could do was learning about the history and legends of sealing. No theory, no examples. The librarian had been very apologetic, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Up until now, the biggest effect being a civilian had had on Tayuya's lifestyle was how she got from point A to point B, walking through roads instead of roof-hopping. But the library was the first place she had been really limited because she _wasn't_ a ninja. She had expected things like that, it was just unnerving. Tayuya also had her doubts that there would be anything in the shinobi section. The seal was almost too… sterile.

One of the few things she _had_ read was that every seal contained a signature, like the author's personal claim to the design of the seal. The one on her chest, in comparison, was simply an endless stream of teensy characters, as if it had been written by an apprentice who didn't have a signature. Except it was far too _perfect_. Every character looked like it had been stamped flawlessly. She'd discovered that when she had used a magnifying glass and a mirror to examine it the night before. Either way, the library was a dead end.

She was back to square one.

* * *

It was Sunday evening now, and she was walking back to the flat to prepare herself another meal. She'd picked up a tub of miso paste, some kombu, and kezurikatsuo, and she was going to try following Yomi's recipe for miso soup. It looked really good on paper, and she was rather excited to try making something other than fish. But what else to make? She was pulled out her hunger-induced dilemma by a woman yelling at the top of her lungs.

The woman brandished a broom, swinging it wildly, and was using it (to surprisingly great effect) to push a girl with green hair (_green_ hair, really?) out of the front of what Tayuya assumed was the woman's shop based on her actions.

"I DON'T **CARE** IF YOU'RE A NINJA, YOU AND YOUR KIND ARE FAR MORE TROUBLE THAN YOU'RE WORTH. NOW STAY OUT OF MY SHOP!" So it _was_ her store.

The girl fell backwards, trying to avoid being swatted with the broom, and landed painfully on her rear. The woman in the door, satisfied with her rant, turned around and went back muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'monster'.

Tayuya looked on, curious. What had the girl done to justify such harsh treatment?

Everyone else on the street seemed to be avoiding looking in the girl's direction, even the ones walking right in front of her, as if this was an everyday occurrence. Tayuya frowned. Well, there wasn't much _she_ could do. The girl got to her feet, dusted herself off, and jumped to the top of the nearest roof (it was on the store she had just been evicted from). Tayuya watched the girl leap away, and thought she smelled something fishy going on.

But maybe that was just the kezurikatsuo.

* * *

She saw the strange green-haired girl three times over the next two days.

The first time was only in passing, the girl leaping across a roof that Tayuya only coincidentally happened to be looking at, and had it been anyone else, she almost would have doubted her eyes it occurred so quickly. But there was no denying that green hair and dark skin. It immediately brought back the memory of the day before, and Tayuya arrived at work a bit more melancholic and pensive that usual. Yamada only remarked on it when she didn't greet him like normal, and she pushed her thoughts of the strange girl aside to give her full focus to the task at hand. Being distracted while working heavy machinery was not safe.

The second time was on her way home from work. She had just gone to the market to get some more eggs, and was walking in the alley behind the store as a shortcut to get back to her flat. The girl was talking to a man who stood in what the back door to the store Tayuya had just come from. She couldn't get a good look at his face, but he didn't seem to have any bad intentions. He clapped the girl on the shoulder, and handed her a paper bag that was completely full. The man then backed into the store, closing the door.

What the hell was going on? The girl was thrown out of a store mid-day in full public view and nobody helped her, but in the alley behind a supermarket she was handed a bag that looked like it could feed someone for a few _weeks_.

It didn't make any sense.

From what Tayuya had just witnessed, she concluded that for some reason (something she'd done? continued to do?), the girl was considered a nuisance at best publicly, but a few people still supported her. It pointed to her gaining that reputation by doing, or allegedly doing, something that the public considered deplorable, but was quietly thankful for.

It also was possible that she had been framed, or taken the fall for a higher-ranking officer's mistake, like her jōnin-sensei, and that while the villagers only knew of the public story, there were people who admired or appreciated her behind the scenes. Tayuya had heard of situations like that happening every so often in the hidden villages, Kumo in particular. But usually the public backlash faded fairly quickly, as the younger ninja was able to gain back the trust of the village by doing more public missions.

As the girl turned around, Tayuya's eyes met hers for just a moment. She was struck dumb. They were _orange_. Who the hell had orange eyes? Well, clearly this girl did. Didn't they tell her orange wasn't a normal color? Blanching, she realized that based on the treatment she had seen, people probably _had_ told her that. And not in a nice way.

The green-haired, orange-eyed girl quickly turned and leapt to the adjacent roof, making no sound, simply disappearing into the twilight.

Maybe it was the result of some sort of experimentation? Tayuya didn't think that the orange eyes were natural. They had almost glowed. It would explain why people didn't like her, and that some would take pity on her. She shook her head to stop her imagination from running wild. Wild conjecture was great, but it didn't help her understand what was really going on. She continued walking home, her thoughts inadvertently drifting to mixtures of green and orange.

The third time Tayuya saw her was also in an alley. Unfortunately, it was under worse circumstances. It had been a very late day at work, and she only managed to leave around 9, as the last masks had taken forever to dry, even with Yamada's fancy dehydration/heater box that they used to speed up the process. She was walking across town, from Yamada's home to her flat. As she passed an alley, she heard slurred ramblings from it, and ignored them just on principle. Until she caught a flash of green from the corner of her eye. Thoughts of the green-haired girl came back. And that shade was very distinctive. Curiosity piqued, she stepped into the mouth of the alley to get a better look.

The alley was formed from three two-story buildings, one on either side, and one at the end. The girl stood with her back to the rear wall, and two seemingly drunk men stood in front of her. They seemed to be slurring something at her, but the girl's eyes were vacant and she seemed to not be listening. Why didn't she just jump to one of the roofs? It was only a two story jump, and she could use an opposing wall to help her ascend _easily_. So why did she just stand there?

One of the drunks started to get fairly agitated, and began swinging his fist around, almost hitting the girl a couple times. And then one of the swings landed. The girl didn't move an inch. She didn't protect herself, or try to escape. She just stood there, the light in her eyes gone.

Tayuya couldn't stand to watch it anymore. Normally she was all for a hands-off approach to dealing with people, especially other people's conflicts, and before she had stayed Shin and Yomi she would have just ignored the girl and kept walking. But she had made a promise to them to at least _try_ and reach out to other people. And this girl definitely seemed to need someone's help. The fact that Tayuya was curious about her situation just made the decision that much easier.

Striding to the end of the alley, she grabbed one of the girl's hands. She could just barely make out what the agitated man was saying. Something about bugs and squashing and possession. He was clearly beyond inebriated. Not able to endure it any longer, Tayuya hit a pressure point in the back of his neck a bit harder than necessary and was satisfied when he fell to the ground bonelessly. She repeated the action with his companion.

"C'mon. Let's get the hell out of here." she said to the girl. But the her face didn't register any indication that she'd heard.

Tayuya pulled her toward the entrance to the alley, and the girl stumbled a couple times before her eyes began to brighten and her steps started matching up properly.

"What are you doing?" The girl seemed truly confused and a tad anxious.

"What the fuck does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting you out of there. Why were you letting them do that?"

"Do what?"

Tayuya almost stopped walking. What!? Had she even been aware of what had been going on at all? Was it some sort of sensory deprivation?

"Let them insult you. Hurt you." A glimmer of recognition passed fleetingly through the girl's eyes, but Tayuya caught it. So she _did_ know what was happening. "Why the hell didn't you just leave?"

The girl was silent for a few moments. "It doesn't matter. It wouldn't do anything." she whispered.

Tayuya was getting frustrated. How could this girl be so _submissive_? In her defense, it was truly a foreign concept to her. She would never have gone down without a fight.

The girl's voice suddenly gained an edge. "And why does it matter to _you_, anyways? Why do you care what I do?" She pulled her hand from Tayuya's grip, and Tayuya noticed that she had dragged the girl two blocks without even realizing it.

"It's not like there's anything you can do about it. And you've probably made things worse! If they realize that someone attacked them, they could pin it on me! Why couldn't you just stay away!?" At that, she jumped up onto the single story building next to them and bounded away.

Tayuya was left standing in the street, speechless.

And then she got angry.

She was almost tempted to try and follow the girl to knock some sense into her. Almost. But she wouldn't be goaded into another fight based on just emotion. That was a quick way to get herself captured or killed.

Instead, she simmered as she continued going home. She had gone out of her way to try and help her, and all she got in return was resentment. It was so frustrating. Well, if the girl wasn't going to share anything, she'd just have to get her information the other way. Gossip.

Tayuya stopped in the middle of the street and let loose a string of profanities. She hadn't even gotten the damn girl's name.

* * *

The next day, she started snooping around. When she went to pay for her morning meal, she asked the cashier about "that green haired girl". He had pretended not to know who she was talking about, but when she mentioned the orange eyes, the man's face had immediately scrunched up, his lips forming a pencil thin line. It was all he could do to tell her that she shouldn't associate with the girl.

So that was a dead end.

She tried again at the place she usually bought her bentō. The woman behind the counter was much more vocal, but she devolved into a rant on "monster bugs that were going to eat her children". While it was mostly fruitless, she noticed that both the woman and the drunk man had mentioned insects. So maybe there was something there?

She went to work after that, and put her theories on the back burner.

When it was time for lunch, she ate her bentō in record time, and then rushed off. She'd decided to try the market guy next. Unfortunately, it had been rather dark in the alley when she had been there before, the sun too low to light it very much.

She wandered around the alley, hoping to get lucky and catch whoever had come through the door before her lunch break was over. She was just about to call this attempt a wash, when the heavy back entrance opened. A young man, maybe 25?, walked out of the door with a large stack of boxes in his hands. He moved over and threw them in the large garbage bin without noticing her. He looked to be fairly average in most ways. She moved from her leaning position up against the building wall, and he started at the sound.

"You almost gave me a heart attack." He held a hand to his chest.

"Eheh. Sorry. Are you the only one that comes out of that door?" She asked.

He looked confused at the question. "Yeah, for the most part. Why?"

"Do you know anything about a girl with bright green hair?"

He started fidgeting nervously, shifting his weight from side to side. His eyes roved around, looking anywhere but her face. "No, I don't know anyone like that."

His entire body betrayed him. He was an absolutely terrible liar.

She decided to give him bit of a scare in return for his blatant attempt to fool her. "Because, I saw someone giving her food here." At that, his face became panicked. His eyes widened and she know she'd gotten him. "So if it wasn't you who was it?"

He seemed to go through some massive internal debate. His entire face betrayed his emotions. Was this what all civilians were like? No skills in keeping secrets or deception? He had seemed to come to a conclusion based on his expression. His shoulders sagged and he deflated. "Look, please don't tell anyone. She doesn't deserve half the stuff she goes through." His tone was almost begging, and she decided at this point, it would just be cruel to say no.

"I won't tell anyone, I just… want to know more." Really, she wasn't out to hurt the girl or anything. What did he think she'd do? Hunt her down or something?

"I-It's not my place to talk about other people." Oh, great. He was one of _those_ types. Her one strong lead so far, and he was too principled to talk about people behind their back. This was frustrating. "Can you please just let it be? She's not hurting anyone."

Ugh. That was the end of that then. Not much more she could do. Any more pressure and he'd probably just walk away. And she had to get back to work anyways. The only way to get him off her case was to agree in someway.

She decided that a lie of omission would be safe here. "Fine. I won't bother her." There. Now he could leave happy, and since she had no intention of confronting the girl herself, she wasn't _really_ lying. She just hadn't said that she would stop poking around.

The man nodded. "Thanks. I have to get back to work." And with that, he went back inside, closing the door behind him.

Tayuya walked away in thought. So apparently there were people who were secretly alright with the girl. The problem would be finding more, and getting more information from them. If they all ended up being as uninformative as this guy had been, it would be a while until she was satisfied.

* * *

Tayuya exited the workshop sweaty, and covered in sawdust. The planer had needed to be cleaned, and she ended up getting her hands covered grease that was a pain to wash away even with soap. She was so focused one getting it off the spot between her index finger and thumb that she didn't even notice the figure standing against the wall around the corner.

She nearly screamed, but contained her panic at being caught off guard. She really should have been more aware. Ninja needed to watch their back at all times. The figure resolved itself into an hourglass, and then the green-haired girl was standing in front of her.

"Uh. Can I help you?" Tayuya was more than a little unnerved by her appearance.

"You've been asking around about me." The girl's voice contained an edge of frozen steel to it. "Why?"

Well, shit.

That just backfired magnificently. And it hadn't even been a whole day. She must have a hell of an information network. Or someone who looked out for her.

Tayuya felt like hitting her face against something. The guy from the market must have told her somehow. Subtlety had never been one of her strong points, and it was coming back to bite her now.

'Why?' One simple question. One that Tayuya didn't even know the answer to herself. The girl was a mystery, and Tayuya only knew that she felt like she needed to know more.

The girl repeated herself, a little harder. "Why?" The weight that the girl's voice carried implied pain if she didn't give the correct answer. Tayuya almost scoffed at that, until she felt the air getting heavy with chakra. It rolled over her, and carried a metallic tang to it that made her flight or fight response just shut down. It was even worse than being around Orochimaru. The pressure was unbearable.

"I don't know." Tayuya replied honestly, trying to appease her so the sensation would go away.

The girl's orange eyes bored into her, as if she was able to know if you were telling the truth just by looking at you. A trail of sweat from both the sun and nervousness ran down Tayuya's forehead and fell off her nose.

She tried not to blink.

It was like being pierced by the gaze of someone who _knew_ they could turn you into mush in an instant. Unlike Shin, who had been merely content to just sit calmly and observe the situation, only jumping in if necessary, this girl was very clearly the aggressor. She looked younger than Tayuya, but the sheer amount of killing intent she exuded pinned Tayuya in place, nearly causing her to gag.

And then it was gone.

The girl nodded, seemingly satisfied. "You're nervous. But you're not lying." And then she brightened, as if she hadn't just intimidated Tayuya into answering her.

…What the hell had just happened? Was the girl bipolar or something? Now that she had a chance to catch her breath, Tayuya's mind started working in overdrive.

She had felt like a genin! What the fuck had the girl gone through that allowed her to force that kind of intent on other people? Her mind jumped to the more immediate questions, realizing this was her chance to get them answered. It seemed her curiosity was still flaming, even _after_ that experience.

"How the hell did you know that? How did you even know where I was?" That was the real question Tayuya had. How had the girl found _her_ out of the entire village at such short notice?

The girl held a finger out, and something flew out of Tayuya's hair and onto it. Tayuya looked at the outstretched digit. A single beetle crawled over the finger. The girl looked at the beetle, following it with her eyes. So she _did_ have something to do with insects. Maybe she would clear up that mystery.

"Female beetle. The Aburame use a special breed, but I can use any." She looked up at Tayuya, her eyes piercing her again, noticing her confusion. "They're a clan in Konoha that use insects for things like tracking. The answer to both of your questions is pheromones. I can smell them. It's a… special ability that I have." So she had some kind of enhanced sense of smell. And she was knowledgeable about insects. That helped, but it still didn't explain how everyone in the village mentioned bugs when she was brought up.

She pulled her attention back to the girl in front of her. Was this really the same person as yesterday? Her eyes were so _alive_. "Humans produce them too. When they're nervous, or upset, or happy, or aroused." Tayuya flushed at that.

"That's how I knew." She tapped the side of her nose conspiratorially. "After all, the nose knows." She giggled at the joke, and Tayuya marveled at the sound. It was like glass tinkling and falling, mixed with the easy laziness of a shallow brook. It was absolutely beautiful. She wanted to hear it again.

"How did you know I was asking about you?" At this point, she just wanted to confirm her suspicion.

"Sado. From the market." Yup, confirmed. "All he said was a girl with vibrant red hair had been asking about me, but I knew it was you." Tayuya grimaced at having been caught so easily. Clearly her information gathering and subtlety needed some work.

"Alright. Just, don't put a fucking beetle in my hair again." Tayuya shuddered. "No offense or anything."

The girl stared at her for a moment, and then started laughing uncontrollably. Unlike before, this was full and hearty, and yet it still sounded just as amazing. The girl leaned up against the wall, clutching her stomach. Tears started leaking from the corner of her eyes.

This girl was _weird_.

"H-Hey. You alright?"

She seemed to be having trouble breathing, but waved Tayuya off. Taking deep breaths, she slowly composed herself, bursting into suppressed giggles every few seconds.

Tayuya frowned. "Whatever the hell I did, it wasn't _that_ funny."

The girl drew herself up to her full height. She was still giggling every so often.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just. You should have seen yourself. You're absolutely covered in sawdust and grease from head to toe, and you shudder at a thought of the _beetle_?" she started giggling again.

The girl's laugh was infectious, and Tayuya soon found herself giggling too. It was pretty silly in hindsight.

Once they had pulled themselves together, she looked at Tayuya. "I like you. Sorry about yesterday."

Tayuya was speechless. "Uh, sure." There went her righteous indignation and annoyance with the girl. Right out the window. "You're… alright yourself." _When you aren't acting bipolar._

"Well, I guess I should get going, now that I know you're not trying to do anything bad. Ninja stuff and all." The girl turned around and started walking away, getting ready to jump onto a low roof.

"W-Wait!" The girl stopped and turned around. "Um. Do, do you want to come over some time? Maybe for dinner or something?" Maybe she could get to know her better, pierce some of the mystery surrounding her.

For a second, a haunted expression flickered past the girl's face, and Tayuya almost missed it. Her eyes had dimmed slightly. Tayuya's chest suddenly felt like it was twisting. Then the cheerful girl was back.

She smiled widely, her eyes squinting, and nodded. "Do you know where?" At that the girl giggled, and just tapped the side of her nose.

"Oh. Right." Tayuya said dumbly. Tracking ninja.

Then the girl was gone in a flash of green.

"Wait! Is Friday okay?" There was no response, except for a tinkling laugh echoing on the breeze. But Tayuya knew she had heard, and accepted that as an affirmative.

She was feeling strange.

The girl had been astoundingly different from yesterday. She just appeared, and in the few minutes Tayuya had talked to her, she had started being reminded of how she felt around Shin and Yomi near the end of her stay. And then just as rapidly as she had entered, the girl had left, leaving Tayuya feeling forlorn. Adrift.

She seemed slightly unstable, but as long as it wasn't directed at _her_, Tayuya thought she could probably handle it.

Tayuya growled suddenly as she realized she _still_ hadn't gotten the girl's name.

* * *

The rest of the week went smoothly. She saw the green-haired girl twice more, bounding across roofs. But each time she looked away, she heard the smooth tinkling laughter on the wind, and knew the girl had somehow known she was watching.

Her rabid curiosity had waned, temporarily satisfied with the fact that she would have the chance to get to know her better first-hand.

To be honest, she was more than a little overwhelmed. The girl on Tuesday and the girl on Wednesday seemed almost like two completely different people, ignoring the seemingly minor event she had been threatening . If she hadn't apologized, Tayuya probably could have been convinced that the two different days had been two separate twins.

The only other thing that gave her away was the sudden, brief haunting vacancy that shadowed her orange eyes. It was almost instantaneous, but Tayuya had caught it twice now. And she would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly worried. She didn't want to drive off a potential new…what? Acquaintance? Friend? Companion?

She didn't really know how she thought of the girl. Right now it was more blazing interest in why the village treated her the way they did. But what happened when she found out? Would she just lose interest in her? Or would she become so emotionally invested that she couldn't help but care?

Tayuya had a foreboding sense that she had just sealed her own fate. Fucking fantastic.

* * *

It was Friday afternoon, and Tayuya was bored out of her mind.

Yamada had let her go early because of all the overtime she had done, so she had just headed home, thinking she could get ready for her guest.

It had taken all of ten minutes. And now she had nothing to do.

She had decided to wait until the green-haired girl was here to finish preparing the food, so that it would be as fresh as possible. She was going to try a new fish dish (salmon) that Yomi had given her the recipe for. She'd also gotten a new fillet knife at Yomi's suggestion, since none of the knives she had were long or flexible enough to handle the skin easily. She was going to do a side of steamed vegetables, and hoped that the girl liked them. Of course, she had rice in the rice cooker, ready to go as soon as she needed, and she'd start that before she started the fish to give it enough time.

Tayuya draped herself over the cool tabletop. What was she going to talk about? She obviously had to try and steer clear of any topics that made the girl bring that haunted look back. So far it had seemed random, and she had no idea what triggered it. She'd just have to cross her fingers and hope that she didn't make a _complete_ ass of herself.

Any topics of ninja duty were similarly off the table, as they were probably classified, and if she appeared too knowledgeable about shinobi duty, it would draw the curiosity and attention to _how_ she knew. And she really didn't want that.

Insects seemed like a safe bet, but Tayuya knew next to nothing about them, and didn't like them too much. It wasn't that she was squemish or scared, but she'd had a couple bad experiences with insects in her childhood, and they carried forward. Her thoughts drifted to the upcoming days she had off.

She flipped her head over so the other cheek was on the table.

Last weekend she hadn't had any time to search for a flute to replace her old one. She had been too focused on the seal, and then the green-haired girl had started popping up everywhere.

So that was what she was going to do tomorrow. Find a decent music shop, and see what they had in stock.

Her fingers were starting to itch, and she needed to play in order to relieve the tension. It was also incredibly cathartic to play, and usually mellowed her for a couple hours.

Maybe if she had had her flute following the battle… She pushed that thought away. There wasn't any point to entertaining 'what if's.

Everything had turned out for the best anyways.

* * *

She had been reading through one of Shin's scrolls in her room when she heard the sharp knocks on the door. Jumping to her feet, she quickly straightened her clothes and tried to make sure her hair was lying as flat as it could. Without a hat it tended to stick out at odd angles on the top when she wasn't paying attention.

Crossing to the sitting room to the entrance hall, she yelled "Coming!". Who was she kidding, the girl had probably heard her jumping up.

Opening the door, she was once again struck by the odd combination of green hair and orange eyes. But now that she wasn't caught off guard by any more odd colored features (or being intimidated into cardiac arrest), she could look at girl's appearance more generally.

Her skin was a rich creamy color that looked like she had a grandparent or parent from Lightning. She wore skintight mesh body armor on her top cut like a short shirt that reached her elbows, and Tayuya recognized the silvery-black sheen as a combination of nylon, cotton, and carbon thread. It could stop kunai at point blank, and only extremely sharp blades or a rapier could actually harm or pierce it.

It was also insanely expensive.

Orochimaru had looked into the fabric, and determined that it was too expensive to be used on a mass scale and that the Sound Four didn't need it.

_Yeah, right._

It appeared as if she had a pair of shorts that reached her knees made out the the same materials well. Either she was paid ridiculously well, or someone had invested a lot of money into making sure the girl wasn't easily harmed on duty.

Covering that layer on her torso was a simple white sleeveless top that reached to just the edge of her rib cage, the body armor ending about four inches below it, and a white skirt with slit sides that started along with the armor about two inches below her belly button. The only thing that was on her arms was a hitai-ate attached to black cloth on the right.

She was fairly tall for what Tayuya was guessing her age (mid-teens). Taller than Tayuya at least.

She would be beautiful in a few years, but right now her body was still at that awkward lanky stage. Despite that, her muscles were tight and well defined, and flowed like steel wire and mercury under her visible skin. She might not be large, like Jirōbo had been, but Tayuya was willing to bet her punches would hurt just as much, if not more.

She must train a _lot_ to get muscle definition like that. Maybe she'd be up for sparring?

Some civilians did martial arts for exercise, so it wasn't _too_ far out there, right? She could just deflect possible queries of ninja training as solely a physical past-time that she had been practicing for years. And Tayuya was dying for a good sparring partner. Shadow fighting and katas were only so rewarding.

"Hi!" The girl's smile was going full-watt. Tayuya thought she might be blinded for a second.

"Uh. Hey." She opened the door to let her in, and closed it once she was all the way into the hall.

Tayuya stood at the end of the entrance hall while the girl took her purple sandals off at the genkan. She noted that the girl's eyes seemed to be roving everywhere, never settling on one spot, trying to absorb everything she saw.

"It's really nothing amazing, but it works. And it's cheap." She opened the door that lead into the kitchenette / dining area. "It's just a simple 2DK ." The second bedroom was empty, but furnished for another assistant. Yamada had done a surprisingly tasteful job decorating, but later she had learned he'd gotten everything as a set from a mail-order place.

"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. I _was_ going to start prepping the food before you got here, but I sorta fell asleep." Tayuya rubbed her head sheepishly.

The green-haired girl giggled at that. "Okay." still giggling, she plopped herself down cross-legged on one of the cushions surrounding the square table in the center of the room.

"So, I've never really done salmon, but I wanted to try it." Tayuya laughed nervously, before moving over to the counter top where she had the cutting board. "Do you eat vegetables?"

"Yep!", the girl nodded. Her eyes were still darting around, landing on one thing, and staying there for only a second before moving to something new.

Tayuya plugged the rice cooker in before she started on the other dishes. Getting the fish out of the fridge, she unwrapped it, and placed it down on the wooden board before throwing the paper wrapper out.

Rereading Yomi's instructions, she made sure she knew what she had to do. She'd never skinned a fish before, as she usually got already filleted meat prepackaged from the store, but today she had gone to the market and got it fresh. This might be a bit tricky.

Holding her shiny new knife, she began working on it. Pulling a little bit of the skin back , she ran the knife just below it, slowly removing it whole from right to left. She got about half-way before she missed a piece. Trying to remove the skin that she had already collected, she pulled the knife up, and hit an area that was resisting. The knife jerked, and then jumped upwards.

Right into the palm of the hand that had been holding the fish down.

"Kami fucking damn it." It wasn't a deep cut, but it was long, and blood was flowing out of it at a decent pace. Damn. She might have hit something.

The girl's eyes zeroed in on her. "What's wrong?" Tayuya cupped her hand to stop the blood from dripping, and quickly moved it over to the sink, still cursing under her breath. She didn't want to contaminate the food.

"Don't worry about it. It's just a little cut." she said to the girl.

She got up at that and moved over to stand next to her over the sink. "That… does _not_ look like a little cut. Are you sure you're alright?" she asked haltingly.

Tayuya was getting a bit lightheaded at the loss of blood. But she also didn't want the girl to worry.

"I'll be fine. I just need to get something to wrap it." she replied, trying to assuage the girl.

This was _not_ how she had envisioned this dinner going. Hopefully she wouldn't need stitches. With her luck, it was bad enough that she would.

She rinsed the blood off and was annoyed to see how quickly it returned. Yeah, she'd be going to the ER for stitches. The small number of medical supplies in the bathroom probably had butterfly closures that would work temporarily.

Still holding her left hand palm up to avoid getting any blood on the floor, she rooted around below the sink for a towel or something to wrap her hand with. Something to soak up the bleeding and apply pressure would be useful.

The girl next to her let out a sharp gasp, and Tayuya knocked her head inside the cabinet. "Shit!" She pulled her head out and stood up. "What? Did it get worse?" she asked anxiously.

The girl's eyes were wide and her jaw had gone slack. Following her line of sight, Tayuya looked back at her hand.

The hand that had blood sucking into the incision.

The hand that had a disappearing cut.

The hand that was perfectly healed.

"Well, fuck."

* * *

The remainder of preparing dinner went much smoother. After making sure that Tayuya had actually healed, and saying that she _seemed_ to be alright, the green-haired girl had gone back to sit at the table.

Unlike before, she was very quiet and her eyes were unmoving. Tayuya was worried she had (accidentally) triggered one of the girl's mood swings. She sighed inaudibly. This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid.

Placing the finished dinner down on the table seemed to be enough to draw the girl back to reality. Tayuya sat down, and served herself some of meat and vegetables, and the other girl did the same.

Taking a few bites, she tasted it. It was pretty good. Especially for a first try. An awkward silence permeated the room.

Where to start a conversation…

Oh. Right. "So, uh. What's your name?" Tayuya hoped that wasn't rude. And she kind of needed to know. She couldn't just keep referring to her as "that weird green-haired girl".

The girl looked at her like she had grown a second head. And then started laughing. And didn't stop.

What had she done now? She was extremely pleased to hear her laughing, as it meant she wasn't going to go all sour and moody like she'd feared (and she secretly enjoyed the sound), but she had no clue what had prompted it this time. The girl slapped the table, and struggled to catch a breath.

"Al-All this time, and you didn't even know my name? Didn't Sado tell you?" Tayuya shook her head wordlessly.

"And nobody else told you either?" She shook her head again, feeling slightly embarrassed at her ignorance. "Oh man, I have got to tell him about this. He thought you had already found a bunch of dirt on me, and was just going to blackmail him. It was almost pitiful when he told me." She took a moment to catch a breath and calm down, wiping a tear from the edge of her left eye.

"My name's Fu. And I'm number seven." She went back to eating, rotating between rice, fish, and vegetables.

Number seven?

"Tayuya." Tayuya took another piece of fish with her chopsticks and put it on some rice, before placing the whole thing in her mouth.

"You aren't number nine?" What was with all the numbers? Was it some kind of code? Like a secret organization or something?

"I have absolutely no fucking idea what the hell you're talking about."

Fu looked like she swallowed a lemon. And then she started laughing again. "Well, I guess he won that bet. I was totally sure this time, too. Oh well, his streak of luck continues." Fu had bet on her against Sado? Over this number thing? Tayuya's head started to hurt.

"The food's great, by the way" Fu continued. "You really don't need to be nervous. I'm not going to bite your head of or anything." She laughed. "Well, I'll try not to, anyways."

"H-How did you-" The girl tapped the side of her nose. Right. Super smell that gave away your real emotions. That was definitely going to take some getting used to.

They lapsed into a silence that was far more comfortable than the one when they had started eating.

"So, uh, how old are you?" Tayuya asked. This was small talk, right?

"Fifteen." That seemed about right, and matched with what she had mentally guessed.

"You live here with your parents?"

Fu's eyes glazed over for a second. "No. I'm by myself, over in the eastern section." Okay. Steering clear of that topic.

"Well, I'm only seventeen." Tayuya countered, trying to deflect the topic back onto stabler ground. "Have you been a ninja for long?"

"Yeah" she whispered. Her eyes visibly dimmed this time. Shit. Two strikes.

And then light in her eyes was back. Like nothing had happened. She focused on Tayuya, and smiled a toothy grin. Like she knew something Tayuya didn't, and was getting back at her.

"You're a ninja too. Or used to be." Tayuya almost groaned.

Not again. She didn't want to leave town yet. She restrained her gut reaction of attacking the other girl. There was no chance. Based on what she'd seen, she'd be crushed immediately.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Fu said conspiritorily. What? Again?

What the hell was up with people and accepting strange ninjas into their homes? What the fuck was the world coming too? Trying to keep calm, she remembered there wasn't much point in trying to conceal her emotions. Fu had already demonstrated the ability to get around that. Tayuya sighed.

"I'm technically not a ninja anymore." she said. Maybe that would get her some breathing room.

"Anymore?"

Tayuya nodded, but refused to say anything else. She was just getting to know Fu, and didn't want to get into that whole mess with her right now.

"But how could you tell that?" she asked. "Don't tell me it's your nose again."

Fu laughed. "Nope, you're wayyyy too quiet. You don't sound like a civilian when you move around. And you're too fluid and conservative in your motions." She pointed at the stove. "Like when you were cooking."

Shit, was it really that obvious? She'd have to work on that.

Tayuya was surprised that she had been paying attention, she'd thought the girl had been completely dead to the world.

Fu asked the next question. "Where are you from?"

Tayuya decided to twist that to her favor. She'd avoid giving out as much compromising information as she could. Fu _said_ she wasn't going to out her, but she didn't know what the girl was going to do with the information. Blackmail would be a very effective tactic against her right now, with how she had deserted the snake and all. And as much as she wanted to believe in good faith that Fu wouldn't do that, she was probably better safe than sorry for now.

"Originally? No fucking clue." She had no memories of the first seven years of her life, so that was technically true.

"No, as a ninja." Fu clarified. Tayuya cursed under breath, and Fu must have heard it because she giggled.

Kami-damned perceptive girls. Urgh. There wasn't an easy way to escape now. And she got the impression Fu wasn't going to let her not answer this one.

"Sound." Fu made a face. "I'm not with them anymore! I said that!" Tayuya defended.

"Well, at least you wised up." Not a very nice way to put it, but true. She _had_ wised up. It had taken the curse seal being eliminated '_and my flute being chopped into bits_', but after that she had _definitely_ seen Orochimaru for what he was.

"Yeah." Tayuya agreed. There wasn't much more she could say to something like that.

Tayuya glanced at the clock, when had it gotten to be 8:30? Where had the time gone?

Fu followed her gaze, and saw the time.

"Well, it's getting pretty late, I should probably get going." Fu stood up. "It was a really good dinner, thanks."

"No, um, thanks for coming over. You're kinda the first person I've really hung out with in this town." Fu seemed genuinely surprised and happy at that. _Maybe she just needed some more company?_

And unlike her dinner with Yamada, this had been nice. It was the most she'd talked to someone since she'd left Se-shi.

"We could do it again sometime?" Tayuya offered.

"Alright. But let's wait until after next week, and see how busy things are." Right. The festival was next week. Tayuya was a bit disappointed she wouldn't get a chance to see her again sooner, and was a bit suprised that she felt that strongly about it.

Tayuya walked behind Fu as she went into the genkan and bent down to put on her shoes. When she was done she stood up straight, and turned to Tayuya.

"Well, thanks again." She opened the door, and walked out, closing it behind her.

Wait! Sparring! That was perfect!

Tayuya ran to the door and pulled it open, hoping that she was still there. Oddly enough, Fu was walking down the stairs instead of jumping to a roof like usual.

"Hey!" Tayuya shouted down at her. Fu turned around . "Uh, would you be willing to spar with me sometime?" Fu started smiling, but it made Tayuya's blood go cold for some reason. She soldiered on. "I need to improve my hand-to-hand, and you seem like you'd know what you're doing." Fu's smile turned bloodthirsty, and Tayuya shivered, that expression looked wrong on the girl's face.

"Alright then. We start tomorrow. 7am. Meet me in the eastern section. I'll find you." And with that, she shunshined away, leaving only a green streak.

Tayuya had a sinking feeling she had just thrown herself to the wolves.

What the hell had she gotten herself into?

* * *

**A/N:**

I'm following manga canon in this story. That means if it's anime only, it's likely not going to be affecting the story. Maybe. Probably. I reserve the right to have the final decision on what events I include for the sake of plot.

Example: Fu's personality. Never seen her in the anime. She's a zombie in the manga, and as we all know, zombies have the personality depth of a puddle. At least until they start reminiscing in the middle of a battle. (And Madara was surprisingly talkative, but he came back to life, so I don't count him.)

Anyways, Fu's personality is my own creation. I might get around to watching all of her fillers sometime, but I haven't yet.

This story will contain references to some relatively advanced technology that I feel is appropriate and matches the Naruto universe. If you want more information read the note after the translations.

* * *

**Translations:**

_Kombu_: the kelp that you eat in miso soup.  
_Kezurikatsuo_: shaved katsuoboshi (fermented skipjack tuna). When mixed with water and kombu, it forms dashi, which is the stock that miso soup is made from. It tastes weird without water. Trust me.

* * *

**On technology in this story:**

Some may view the technology references I have in here as a bit high-tech for the Elemental Countries. But think about this: Kishimoto has explicitly stated "Guns aren't suited to ninja… I try to restrain technology that can be used for war." That means no tanks, no fighter planes, no battleships, _no atomic bomb_. If war is the largest motivation for innovation (and it is, just look at history), and there are no anti-area, or anti-city weapons, _where did that innovation go_? I see it as probably moving in three directions: jutsu, weapons, and armor.

Jutsu can only be created by ninja, for ninja, but ninja are notoriously squirrely about their techniques (which earned the Uchiha a level of distrust and fear). Thus progress with refining techniques is slow (e.g. Hiraishin) and overall, sharing doesn't happen. Instead we get larger, more effective results by adding more power (Sage chakra, anyone?). So jutsu development isn't really benefiting humanity as a whole.

Public innovation _can_ occur in weapons and armor though. You don't need chakra to forge a normal blade. And after a battle, someone picking up a blade or piece of armor could potentially analyze it and learn how it was made, contributing to the dissemination of knowledge, _even if unintended_. Better materials have huge military applications in these areas, pointing to the likelyhood that at least some local or national military funding goes towards things like materials research.

Based on how warfare is conducted and the given portrayal of the world, it is _completely_ within the realm of possibility that things like kevlar and carbon nanotube thread exist, but are limited in quantity due to production cost.


	4. A Stranger Girl

**Disclaimer:**

Did Naruto turn out as a fairly well-adjusted teenager who could make friends at the drop of a hat despite years of neglect and sabotage? If so, I don't own Naruto, or any of the universe.

* * *

**Chapter 4:**  
**A Stranger Girl**

Fu left Tayuya's flat in a state of mixed emotions. She didn't quite know how she felt about the redhead. On the one hand, it seemed like Tayuya was a pretty nice person (if a bit rough around the edges), but on the other hand, she was afraid this could end up really hurting. And she tried to avoid pain like that on principle.

Their first interaction hadn't been all that pleasant. And it had been her own fault.

Whenever she got cornered by people, she usually just retreated to her mindscape and talked to Chomei if he wasn't being grumpy, ignoring most of what was going on outside her mind. It worked well. She didn't get in trouble for attacking civilians as a ninja, and the ones who railed on her would be satisfied and leave her alone for a while.

The confrontations rarely got very physical, usually nothing more than a black eye or a couple bruises at worst, the civilians too afraid that if they really started in on her, she might snap and kill them. She liked to think she had better control than that.

The injuries healed quickly, Chomei helping out when he felt like it. Nobody seemed to notice that she just stopped paying attention at the beginning of their rant. It wasn't like it was anything she hadn't heard before.

Bug. Worm. Demon. Monster. Insect. Bitch. Bug-slut (she _thought_ that was a dig at the slightly revealing clothes she wore, but wasn't too sure). Each of these, and all combinations there of. The villagers weren't very creative. They usually yelled at her about how she was a demon and a terrible monster. Riiiiight.

She didn't know where half the stories about her had come from. But there were a lot. More seemed to pop up every year, and she secretly got a kick whenever kids told stories about her as if she was some boogey monster. The adults were less creative, but still had everything from her eating unborn children to massacring a border town.

That one was actually mildly amusing. She hadn't massacred anything, not even a tiny three-man outpost, much less a whole border town. She supposed that she technically _could_ (Chomei's chakra gave her that ability) but there was no reason to, much less any desire for it. It'd just put her in every Hidden Village's bingo book, and other ninja would start coming after her.

If she really wanted that kind of attention, it'd much easier jumping up in the middle of a Five Kage Summit and announcing that she was the seven-tail's host. That would _gurantee_ that every village knew about her. The whole reason she was still in Takigakure was because they'd declare her a missing-nin if she left, and then the other villages would find out.

As a jinchūriki, she didn't have the option of quitting.

Either way, usually, the villagers didn't do anything worse than sidelining and insulting. But she'd gotten past the insults and cold shoulders and people refusing to sell her things years ago.

Sado had actually been the key in that. He'd seen his manager refusing to let her buy her food, and then telling the employees they were forbidden to sell her anything. Once the man had been out of earshot, he told her to come around to the back door. He'd showed up with all the groceries she had been trying to get.

Since then, whenever she needed food, she would give Sado a list, and he would take what she needed out of the stock that was _just_ past the sell-by date, since the manager wouldn't notice anything missing, nor would there be any magically appearing money in the till. She got free food (and went through it quickly), and she didn't have to step inside a single store.

After a couple months, she had started talking to Sado about the villagers, just ranting at him most of the time. He was a great listener, and surprisingly insightful. He'd made a few suggestions, and for the most part they'd actually worked.

She used to always respond to the taunts of some of the rude people, and he told her to just stop and not give them the satisfaction of knowing they had gotten under her skin. Once she did that, she started noticing that she cared less and less what they actually said. And slowly, the passing insults had waned.

Oh, their were still more than a few people who did, but the majority had stopped once they realized that they weren't getting to her anymore.

The drunken confrontations on the other hand, had increased. When the villagers got drunk, they saw that they hadn't told her off in a while, and decided that they needed fix that.

Honestly, she considered the drunks easier than the people who confronted her while sober, since the drunks would eventually grow tired and just walk away after about ten minutes, while the sober ones ganged up and fed off each others' vitriol. She'd once been caught in an alley with six people. It had taken _three hours_ for them to finally get tired and just go away. That one had been one of the more violent incidents, and she had returned home with a split lip, a black eye, and more than a few bruises.

So when Tayuya had literally pulled her out of her conversation with Chōmei, she was already halfway down the alley and hadn't known anything was happening. All she _did_ know was that the drunks had been yelling at her one minute, and the next they were face down on the ground while the redhead dragged her away from the scene. She had immediately jumped to conclusions, and was slightly embarrassed that she hadn't taken the time to find out what had _really_ happened.

She had become a bit anxious at not knowing what was going on, thinking that any potential evidence of a fight on the drunks would lead back to her. And with that, the possibility of being put on probation. And when Tayuya had started questioning her, she had been more than a little annoyed with her. She ended up taking it out on the girl, when the redhead had only had the best intentions in mind.

She had gone to the shinobi headquarters the next day for a basic D mission as usual, and had expected to walk out with a citation and a probation notice. So when she _hadn't_, she'd gotten confused.

The day had only gotten stranger after that.

* * *

_Flashback: Wednesday_

Fu ended up going back to the alley where she had been accosted by the drunks, and looking for any kind of blood or signs of a scuffle. There was no evidence anything had even happened. And now she was curious. The girl had managed to take down the two _without a fight_.

A sleeper hold could do that, but would have alerted the companion, causing a scene, and alerting Fu. But the redhead had taken both down before they had noticed her behind them. Pressure points could easily do that. But most civilians had no idea where they were, much less how to use them in combat. She was now curious not just for herself, but for the potential security of the village. It _was_ her sworn duty, after all. She rolled her eyes. Not that she'd had a choice.

But if there was an undercover foreign ninja lurking around, why would she go out of her way and help the village pariah (who was also a ninja)? That made absolutely no sense. Fu resolved to confront the other girl later. Find out what was really going on. She sniffed around the alley, trying to find a distinct fresh scent that could be the girl's, but everything was muddled together and mixed with the sharp scent of alcohol.

Despite having a _really_ good nose as one of the major passive side effects of hosting Chomei (ridiculous strength being the other), the standard human brain was just not designed to process hundreds of different scents like that, and it worked against her when she was only trying to pick out one. Once she had a scent, on the other hand, she could easily pick it out of the ones in the area and follow it like a thread. One of the things human brains _could_ do was draw comparisons and find patterns. If there had been two (or more) distinct locations that she knew the girl had been in, she might have had better luck. But this one alley and side street weren't enough.

She instead called for a female beetle from a species with good tracking capabilities. Their brains _were_ wired for this kind of thing. She explained (very simply) that she wanted it to find the female scent from last night in this alley that was not Fu and then follow it to the source. That was beginning to stretch the limit of what she could easily communicate without the beetles getting confused by the complex instructions. But they were exceedingly good at picking up trails that were starting to go cold.

Tagging the beetle's distinctive scent in her mind for later, she continued on and did her daily rank-D mission. It was usually something not involving interacting with the villagers. She'd learned that wasn't a good idea _real_ fast after getting her hitai-ate. Today was picking up trash from a small river. Joy.

Fu usually did a C-rank or two a month. They were _always_ short-term assignments. The shinobi leaders got antsy when she was out of the village for too long. She'd even gotten a few B and A-ranks under her belt, but those had been ninja that she'd just stumbled across and recognized from the bingo book. The D-ranks and C-ranks were her main source of income though, and she'd managed to hoard quite a lot of cash away from the combination of all of them.

After she had finished cleaning the river, she ate her lunch in peace on the bank, simply enjoying the sounds around her. Her typical lunch was basic onigiri, but it still filled her up enough that she wouldn't feel hungry until later.

Afterwards, she didn't really have anything to do. She normally went home or did another D rank later in the day. But today she decided to head by the market store where Sado worked and talk to him about the weird girl. Maybe he would have a better idea on how to approach her.

Going by the market (she stayed a couple roofs away), she called a ladybug and asked it to fly to Sado and land on his hand. That was the signal they had developed. About ten minutes later, he came out the back door.

Unusual for him, he initiated the conversation.

"Are you being watched?" What? That was what he started with? She noticed he was completely serious.

"Nooooo… not that I'm aware, and I can usually tell if someone's following me pretty fast." Whenever she smelled the same scent, especially when moving around the village, it was a pretty good indicator she was being tailed. It was usually just a couple ANBU that checked up on her every few weeks or so.

He fidgeted. "Someone's been asking around about you. She came by here." She? Fu was instantly attentive. She had a nagging feeling she knew exactly who it was.

"Long red hair? A bit short? Talks kind of like a guy?" Sado looked surprised, but nodded. Fu went on. "Yeah, I ran into her yesterday. She pulled me out of an alley when there were a couple drunks ranting at me. It looks like she might be a foreign ninja or something."

So she had been in this alley too, huh? Fu tried to remember the smells from the alley and overlay them on the ones here. The only common thing was a trace of paprika. Not good enough for using it to find the girl, but a good start. And she had that beetle tracking her down anyways.

"Well, she really scared me when she showed up. She's definitely quiet enough to be a ninja. _And_ she knows I'm giving you food." That… that was a bit disturbing. Sado could be easily ruined with that kind of information.

"I thought she was going to try and blackmail me or something." He seemed a bit lost at that, like he had no idea what he'd actually do if it happened. He collected himself. "But, she just left after I said I wouldn't tell her anything about you. I might have mentioned your name by accident. I can't really remember, I was pretty nervous." She waved that concern off. She wasn't really worried about something like that. Everyone in the village knew her name, if just to curse it. The girl had probably already learned it.

"I think… she might have already known a lot about you from other people, which is why she left so easily." Sado finished. Yeah, that would make sense. The girl had just cut her losses and decided move on.

"Well, I'll go and find her later today. Try and find out why she's so interested in little old me. She might be some sort of spy for another village, trying to get information on the jinchūriki." Sado looked concerned at that. "Sado, I'll be _fine_. I probably won't even need Seven's help. And if I really need assistance, I'll get backup and we'll capture her." No. That would never happen. But telling him that would make him feel better.

"Alright, just, be careful. I've got to get back to work, my break's over." She waved goodbye to him, and jumped on nearby roof.

Now to find the girl.

She located the scent of the beetle she'd tasked on the west side of the village about two hours later. The traces of paprika were particularly strong in this area too, so that had to be her. Fu decided to play the waiting game. She could be patient. She sat on the roof of the building next to where she thought the girl was. She'd startled Sado, huh? Well, maybe she could give her a taste of her own medicine.

Fu sat there for a few hours, trying to get Chomei to talk to her, and then just giving up after he decided to be a grump. He could be super cheerful, oddly thoughtful, or a complete grouch. And anywhere in between. She didn't really know what caused it. But she did know the kabutomushi would help her out if she was really in trouble, if just because he'd decided she was his 'favorite' so far.

She laid back on the tiles of the roof, looking up at the clouds, and starting picking out shapes to pass the time. She could hear the loud sounds of woodwork from inside the building she was shadowing, so it wasn't like she would be unaware of any changes. The girl must have been around for a bit if she had been able to get a job. Maybe it was an assisted infiltration?

It was a bit later than she expected that the noise finally ceased, and Fu waited a few minutes before hopping down into a side street, preparing to play her slight prank on the unsuspecting girl. She leaned up against the wall and waited. Sure enough, a door opened, and the female beetle's scent got exponentially stronger, along with that aroma of paprika.

But there was something else there too, that was subtle enough that she'd missed it before. It smelled a bit like salt, but different. It almost reminded Fu of one time she had gotten a mission to the coast. The locals had harvested their own salt from the ocean, and it carried a hint of kelp due to how it was processed. So paprika and… sea salt? She'd never come across a combination like it before, and it piqued Fu's curiosity. What were her origins, that she would smell like that? She must have grown up right on the ocean or something. She also had a slight tang of oil and the woody scent of sawdust, but those didn't seem to be coming _from_ the girl, just attached to her. So she'd gotten them on her somehow.

Fu waited until she heard footsteps approaching (and Sado was right, the girl was quiet), and then stepped out from behind the wall. Alright. Intimidation time.

The redhead seemed unnerved by Fu's appearance, and she was internally pleased that she'd shaken the girl. Didn't like it so much when it happened to you, huh? It might have been a bit vindictive and petty, but she tried to take pleasure in the small things in life. It was all she really got.

The girl asked if she could help her, but she sounded completely different from yesterday, and appeared to be off-balance. Good.

Cutting all emotion off in her voice, and making it as cold and hard as she could, Fu replied. "You've been asking around about me. Why?"

The girl seemed surprised at Fu's question, and her reaction was almost comical. Eyes slightly widening and jaw going slack. Well, it wasn't like she was expecting it, right? _And_ she'd been snooping around. Being caught red-handed like that must be pretty embarrassing for a ninja. Of course, it was only because of Sado. Fu'd have had no idea otherwise, but probably still would have confronted her about yesterday.

The redhead seemed at a loss for words, and Fu decided to voice her question again, with a bit more pressure to try and jump-start her. "Why?" When the girl didn't reply immediately, she started saturating the air with her chakra mixed with some of Chomei's from a fraction that he had perpetually allowed her access to. Seven tails was nothing to scoff at.

The girl's eyes widened even further. Fu knew she'd hit the point where the animal instinct in her brain had been screaming at her, and then suddenly stopped, being overwhelmed by incomprehensible fear of confrontation with a creature that was orders of magnitude stronger. It was a tactic she'd used on a few missions when she needed to get information _fast_, but it tended to turn civilians into quivering piles of goo afterwards. She didn't use it in the village for the obvious potential negative consequences.

"I-I don't know." What? She stared at the girl, locking eyes with her, trying to gauge the verity of her response. Fu kept the pressure on, hoping that something more was coming. When it didn't, she resigned herself to smelling the air around them, trying to catch any hint that the girl was lying. All she found was the expected extreme nervousness, but nothing else that indicated falsehood.

She had two options. She could (seemingly) trust the girl, changing tactics, and hopefully get more from her that way. Or she could try and call the potential bluff, which would totally backfire if she was wrong.

She decided to switch tactics.

Fu released the pressure from the air, and the redhead almost stumbled.

"You're nervous. But you're not lying." Fu bluffed, nodding.

She dropped into her usual mask persona of a bright, cheerful girl that she used to interact with clients on missions. It wasn't exactly her preferred persona. But it came the easiest to her from years of usage.

Now that the pressure was gone, Fu could practically _see_ the gears turning in other girl's head, whirling at a breakneck speed. That was a fairly common reaction after being exposed to Chomei's chakra. At least for more seasoned ninja. Which further confirmed the theory that she was one.

The girl's mouth opened to say something, and Fu was a bit shocked that she was able to start talking so quickly.

There was usually a recovery period of about three minutes before ninjas were fully lucid again. Most of them tried to run away at that point.

Fu had _hoped_ that the cheerful act would get the girl to stick around, but it appeared to be more effective than she had hoped. Well then.

She'd have to keep that in mind.

"How the hell did you do know that? How did you even know where I was?" The redhead asked.

Fu frowned internally. She wasn't willing to give up her abilities _quite_ so quickly. Particularly to a possible threat. She wasn't worried about the girl herself, she could _easily_ handle her from what she'd seen. But it was the information getting back to a source that could give her trouble, like another hidden village, that she had to be careful about.

She _could_ choose to tell the girl something that was commonly known to the rest of the ninjas in the village that had ever worked with her or assigned her missions, as that information could easily be acquired just by asking about the 'demon' around a bar with shinobi in it. So it wouldn't really help her anyways if it turned out that the redhead was a spy.

Fu got an idea in her head, and decided to be a bit dramatic.

Holding out a finger, she called the beetle that was on the girl to her. It flew over to her finger, and she followed the beetle's wandering path as it lazily walked around. Apparently it found the redheaded girl's scent pleasant. Somewhere in the deep dark depths of her mind, Fu secretly agreed.

"Female beetle. The Aburame use a special breed, but I can use any." The girl adopted a look of confusion, and Fu narrowed her eyes.

The girl's emotions and thoughts were pathetically easy to read. How had she managed to survive as a ninja? Or was it all just an act, like herself? And she didn't know one of the major clans of Konoha? That was basic Shinobi Tactics 101: know all you could about someone who could turn out to be your enemy. Fu knew at least _basic_ information on all the current major clans scattered across the Elemental Countries, just to have a leg up if she ever got in a fight with one of their members.

Was this girl really that naive? Or was she just arrogant in her abilities, thinking she didn't need to prepare for any possible conflict?

Deciding to humor her, she answered the redhead's unasked question. "They're a clan in Konoha that use insects for things like tracking." Now. How to go about explaining what she could do in a way that would let the other girl draw her own conclusions…

"The answer to both of your questions is pheromones. I can smell them. It's a… special ability that I have." There. Nothing that the girl couldn't find out through other sources. Fu was unsurprised when the girl showed interest at that. It was the first thing she had given away so far.

Maybe she could play another slight trick on the girl. She decided to bait her and watch her reaction, keeping an eye out for any potential cracks in a false facade. It would be amusing no matter what happened.

"Humans produce them too. When they're nervous, or upset, or happy, or _aroused_." Dear Kami. _That_ was a shade of red she hadn't seen before.

There was no way this was a mask. She was just completely unguarded. It was actually rather refreshing. Ninja usually went for calm and controlled, keeping their emotions on a tight leash, but the redhead appeared to be completely incapable of it.

"That's how I knew." Fu tapped the side of her nose. "After all, the nose knows." She pretended to giggle at the bad pun. Her laughter seemed to sooth the girl, and the redhead's face gradually returned to its' previous color.

The other girl's curiosity seemed to be boiling again, and she couldn't contain the question that bubbled past her lips. "How did you know I was asking about you?" Really? She hadn't exactly been careful. She'd literally cornered Sado, even when she knew that they were in contact on a regular basis. It wasn't very hard to connect the dots. The girl probably already knew, and just wanted confirmation.

Fu thought about it. If she didn't respond, the girl might go and confront him again, and it was only sheer luck that someone else hadn't been at the back door. If someone else was there, and she requested to meet with him now, it would start raising questions that Fu _really_ didn't want asked. It could potentially lose her her main supply of food, and at worst it could cost Sado his job.

Fine. She'd confirm it. If just to try and make sure the girl didn't start screwing things up with her nosing.

"Sado. From the market. All he said was a girl with vibrant red hair had been asking about me, but I knew it had to be you." The girl grimaced in at the reminder she had been so easily discovered, identified, and accosted.

"Alright. Just, please don't put a fucking beetle in my hair or again." She shuddered. "No offense or anything."

Fu was speechless. She didn't like bugs? That was _ridicuosly_ ironic when paired with the girl's obvious burning curiosity towards Fu and the fact that Fu was what she was. A living container for the biggest insect to ever exist. She clamped down hard on her amusement, but still couldn't stop the laughter from welling up. It was just too funny.

Releasing the failed attempt at keeping it down, she rolled with it, and tried to use the genuine laughter as a way to lighten the mood. She leaned against the brick wall on her left, clutching at her stomach as her abdominal muscles started to hurt, still laughing.

"H-Hey. You alright?" The redhead seemed slightly concerned for her. Fu might have been having a _little_ trouble breathing, but she just waved the girl off. Calming herself, and trying not to think about it, she started taking deep breathes. It was paradoxically hard trying to avoid the thought, and it kept popping to the front of her mind, making her actually giggle.

The redhead's mouth turned became a pout. Well, maybe it was a frown, but it definitely looked like a pout on her.

"Whatever the hell I did, it wasn't _that_ funny." Maybe not to her, but it was absolutely _hilarious_ to Fu.

She rushed to think up an appropriate excuse. The girl's tomboyish appearance might be enough of a contradiction for the redhead to believe Fu would find it funny. She pushed off the wall and stood up.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just. You should have seen yourself. You're absolutely covered in sawdust and grease from head to toe, and you shudder at a thought of a _beetle_?" It was kind of a lame excuse, but Fu started giggling again, not able to stop thinking about the massive kabutomushi inside of her.

Tayuya started giggling with her. It sounded a bit harsh and unnatural coming from the girl, like she wasn't used to laughing. But it slowly became more natural, and Fu quickly got the impression of waves lapping at a shore.

She thought back to yesterday, the redhead was normally blunt and abrasive based on what she had said and the way she had said it. Now knowing that the girl simply could _not_ conceal her emotions, she figured that she had truly only been trying to help. Even if it went against the redhead's apparent natural personality. She had gone out of her way, and Fu hadn't responded very kindly.

Guilt nagged in the back of her head for practically biting the girl's head off. Why was she getting guilty?

Fu tried to figure it out. That emotion was not something she wanted hanging over her head.

In a spark of insight, she realized that _no one_ had ever stepped in and stopped the abuse before. Ever. Sado was there for her after the fact, and she had used him as support back when the words bothered her, but he'd never actually stumbled across her while it was happening. With the recognition of what the source was, the guilt got a bit worse.

She did not want to feel indebted (however little) to another person who could end up being both an enemy and a spy. Though she was truly doubting that anyone would be misguided enough to send the redhead as a spy. Unless that was the point. To use her to soften her up. Fu's brain started to hurt from the levels of duplicity she was considering.

Would it be out of her cheerful character to apologize and just cut it off? She just wanted to get rid of that persistent discomfort at the back of her mind. As long as she played it right, she could probably pull that off.

In the time she had been thinking, the redhead had stopped her slight laughter, and the girl stood less tense than before. Perfect.

Fu tried to make it seem like she was just eccentric. "I like you. Sorry about yesterday." The first part was past her lips before she could stop herself, and Fu wondered why she had said _that_, before coming to the shocking conclusion that she had actually meant it. She did like the redhead. Now that she was fairly certain the girl wasn't out to get her, at least in the short term, she could simply enjoy the fact that the girl was so unguarded. Ugh. Her subconscious was doing weird things again.

She watched redhead's reaction. Complete surprise. Fu hadn't expected anything less, and she wasn't disappointed in the slightest. The girl fumbled for a response before managing to sputter "Uh, sure. You're alright yourself."

Fu felt a warm feeling spread through her body. What? Why did that make her so happy? She was starting to get nervous and antsy. She needed to get away and figure out what the hell her brain was doing when she wasn't looking, and why this girl was affecting her like this.

"Well, I guess I should get going, now that I know you're not trying to do anything bad." _From what you've said at least._ "Ninja stuff and all."

She loved that excuse. Perfect for all situations. And it was technically true, she was a ninja. Therefore, anything she did was 'ninja stuff'. Fu turned around and walked down the sidewalk, preparing to jump to the roof right next to her.

"W-Wait!" Now what? She turned around again. "Do, do you want to come over some time? Maybe for dinner or something?" She was inviting her over for dinner? … And she was being completely serious about this wasn't she?

Memories of the last person who invited Fu over to get to know her flew unbidden to the front of her mind, and for a second she was trapped in the past, experiencing it again. She wrestled control over her thoughts and threw the memories back into the metaphorical steel box where they had been. She hoped the girl hadn't seen that lapse.

Quickly putting her mask back up, Fu smiled, and nodded. Why had she nodded? She was going to say no! She needed to get out of here, **now**.

"Do you know where?"

Fu had said she was a tracking ninja, hadn't she? She gave the girl a false giggle and tapped the side of her nose.

"Oh, right." the girl replied dumbly.

Fu turned around and shunshined to the rooftop, trying to put as much distance between her and the girl as quickly as possible.

She heard the girl shout behind her "Wait! Is Friday okay?" Trying to avoid having to go back and give an actual response, Fu simply offered another forced laugh that floated through the air.

That night, thoughts of red-haired girls kept her awake.

* * *

_Thursday_

Over the next two days, she was hyper-sensitive to that smell of paprika and sea-salt. Whenever she came within 300 meters of the girl, she could smell her. And yet, she found herself unconsciously following it around the village, soothed by the scent.

It bothered her.

Thursday went by quickly, and she finished her missions faster than normal (tilling a field and picking up trash in a forest). She felt the eyes of the red-haired girl on her twice, as Fu bounded around the village, and she laughed each time at the thought that someone was so interested as to _watch_ for her. It was a new experience. And she was disturbed by the emotions that she felt.

She needed to talk to Sado.

* * *

Her discussion with him was not as productive as she had hoped. Oh, Sado shed a lot of light on things that she wouldn't have thought of, but it didn't give her the answers she wanted.

He had initially been concerned that the girl was a spy when Fu confirmed she was a ninja, but once Fu explained how unguarded and open the girl was, he agreed with her conclusion that the girl was not investigating her as a jinchūriki, but as someone who was merely interested in the situation.

When Fu had told him about how she found the girl's scent distractedly soothing and how the redhead also seemed to have the uncanny ability to worm her way under Fu's skin and make her lose control of her emotional walls, Sado had just smiled and said that her subconscious might be trying to tell her something, like to try opening up to the girl.

He told her that while he was a good sounding board, he wasn't really 'friend' material for Fu, and he knew it. They were more like siblings, and didn't have _too_ much in common.

But she and this girl might. And it seemed like she might be looking for one.

So he had urged her to go to dinner, and try and keep an open mind, giving the girl a chance to just show her intentions. _Without_ the assumption that the girl was out to get her.

Fu would try. But in her experience, everyone _was_ out to get her (Sado the single exception).

The girl hadn't _seemed_ lonely, but maybe that was due to the situation. Fu had rattled her pretty badly.

And really, no matter what Fu told herself, that moment when she had felt happy?

She wanted to feel it again.

* * *

_Friday_

Friday came, and Fu was wound as tight as a spring from the anticipation.

She _wanted_ to believe Sado, that the girl was only trying to get to know her due to curiosity and interest. But past experience had taught her that meeting someone in their own home was usually ended much worse than a more… neutral meeting place.

So she wouldn't let her guard down quite yet. Maybe if this went okay. She'd still use happy-go-lucky personality, as it was what the girl already knew, and Fu didn't want to alarm her by acting completely different.

Following her nose, which seemed to be more attuned to the girl's scent already (she avoided thinking about what that could mean), she reached the north section of the village. It led her to a small shop, specifically the second floor, which seemed to have a basic flat. It looked pretty simple, but nice. Nicer than her place, at least. Her home wasn't really suited for much more than sleeping and eating, which was all she did there.

Fu reached the door, and knocked sharply on the door. She heard a large 'thump', and smirked to herself. The girl seemed to be fairly excited.

A loud "Coming!" was yelled through the door.

The girl's scent absolutely saturated the air, and Fu could feel her nervousness slowly slipping away. She was still uncomfortable with that effect, but decided to just be glad that she wasn't as tense anymore.

The redhead opened the door, and the girl seemed to look her over. Hadn't she seen her already? Fu decided to start things off.

"Hi!", she smiled, trying to give a better impression this time. The girl smelled just as nervous as Fu felt. Maybe this was new for her too?

The girl just replied "Hey", and opened the door the rest of the way to let Fu in.

Fu took her sandals off at the genkan, noting the girl's own black shinobi-issue sandals, and started looking around the rest of the room, trying to get a feel for it.

"It's really nothing amazing, but it works. And it's cheap. It's just a simple 2DK" the girl explained, moving to the door that Fu assumed led to the Dining/Kitchenette area. Based on the storefront below, and the workshop the girl worked at, these living accommodations must have been part of the job.

"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. I _was_ going to start prepping the food before you got here, but I sorta fell asleep."

Fu giggled, giving the girl what she thought was expected. "Okay." She sat herself down at a cushion around the table in the center of the room.

"So, I've never really done salmon, but I wanted to try it." the girl said. She laughed nervously, and moved over to the counter next to the stove. "Do you eat vegetables?"

"Yep!" she replied. Of course she ate vegetables! They were an important source of nutrients and fiber! She needed a fairly balanced diet in order to maintain her intense training regimen, and vegetables were part of that.

Fu continued to look around the room. It was painted a nice light shade of blue, which would reflect and disperse light from the large window at the front. There was a couch up against the wall behind her, and a TV over in the corner. A couple basic pictures of Taki decorated the walls, including a panorama of the Great Tree that sheltered the village. It was pretty tasteful, all things considered.

A string of expletives flew out of the redhead's mouth, and Fu moved her attention to the girl. "What's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it. It's just a little cut." the girl said over her shoulder. Uh. When people cursed like that, it usually _wasn't_ because of a 'little' cut.

Fu got up and moved over to the girl, standing next to her over the sink. The girl's left hand had a large gash bisecting it from top left to bottom right. And it was bleeding. A _lot_. She must have hit an artery in her palm.

"That.. does not look like a little cut." _In any sense of the word _'_little_'_._ "Are you sure you're okay?" Fu asked.

"I'll be fine. I just need something to wrap it up."

_No, what you need is to get to the hospital_

The girl rinsed some of the blood off of her hand, but more quickly replaced it. She squatted down and stuck her head under the sink, presumably to find a towel or something to help staunch the bleeding.

And then the blood on her hand became _less_.

Fu almost wiped her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, but there was definitely less blood. And then tissue started to sew itself back together, in front of her eyes. Fu gasped.

There was a loud _thunk_, and then "Shit!". The girl pulled her head out of the cabinet. "What? Did it get worse?"

Fu couldn't reply, mesmerized by the sight of the wound rapidly closing up, still sucking blood inside of it.

The girl stared at her hand, and looked just as surprised.

"Well, fuck."

* * *

Fu could hardly believe it.

Was the girl another jinchūriki? Was that why she was so drawn to her? It would explain a lot. That was the only thing she could think of that would give someone _that_ fast of a healing ability. She made sure the girl was alright, and then sat back at the table.

She needed to talk to Chōmei. She quickly looked around, before delving into her mindscape, keeping part of herself paying attention to what was going on outside her body, ready to react at a moment's notice.

"Chōmei!"

She rushed through the fortress that represented her mindscape, and came to the representation of her seal, three walls with gaps at the corners. Chōmei sat in the center, curled into a ball on his side, wings tucked in his back.

"Chōmei!" She tried to get his attention.

"**What **_**is**_** it? I'm trying to rest.**"

Oh great. He was in another one of his moods.

"Yeah, yeah, but this is more important!" At that, he uncurled, and swung himself around so that the great big visor-thing that seemed to act as his eyes was in front of her.

"**Oh? Really? I hope so.**"

He may have been grumpy, but both of them knew he wouldn't really do anything. He was the only thing that had been a constant in Fu's life longer than Sado. But unlike Sado, he wasn't really able to help her when it came to personal matters. The bijū _weren't_ human, and thus could never think like one.

"Did you see what happened?" Fu asked. No, of course he didn't.

"**No, as I said, I was resting.**" Yup.

"The redhead girl!"

"**Ahhh. Yes. The fair-scented one who has been on your mind. What about her?**" Chōmei seemed amused by something, and Fu had the distinct feeling she was missing it.

"She cut her hand, and then it just healed! Like, in seconds!" At that, he brought his head down to her. "Do you think she could be another jinchūriki?"

Chōmei stared at her through the gap in the walls. "**Hmm. Perhaps. Kurama's hosts are usually gifted with large reserves of chakra, as well as a highly increased healing factor. She shows both traits, and **_**does**_** have the ability to contain him due to her heritage.**"

"What do you mean?" What did parentage have to do with hosting a bijū?

"**The Kyūbi-**"

"THE KYŪBI!?" Was he saying that this girl could potentially host the _nine-tailed fox_?

"**Yes, Kurama is the Kyūbi, now, as I was saying, Kurama has a great deal of chakra. He equates tails with power, and while that isn't necessarily true, he is by far the strongest of us all, having received the greatest portion of our progenitor from our father.**"

Fu was surprised at how forthcoming Chōmei was being. They had never really discussed the other bijū, as before he had seemed reluctant to talk about the others. Why was he being so open now? Had something changed? She'd have to think about it. And maybe ask him later.

"**Because of this, his host is required to have a very high concentration of Yang chakra, which reinforces their body and allows them to contain his own enormous amount of chakra. This girl fulfills that requirement, though it appears she is not aware of it, as her Yin chakra abilities seem to be even higher, suggesting years of usage and practice.**"

"So it's likely?" Fu asked.

"**Yes. However, I am not convinced.**"

"Well, I think that her healing that fast is pretty convincing. It was absolutely amazing to watch."

"**Kurama is unable to enter into the shared bijū space and talk to the rest of us, and he usually refuses when he is able, so we are unable to confirm it in that manner.**" Chōmei's voice gained a rosy tint of mirth. "**How about we make a **_**bet**_**?**"

Fu almost groaned. She should have seen that coming. Chōmei loved things like wagers and games, even if they were inconsequential. He blamed his nickname of 'Lucky Seven'. She just thought it was silly. But she'd humor him.

"**You will attempt to subtly probe her to see if she is a jinchūriki, as she appears still unaware of your own status. If she confirms that she is the host of Kurama, you win. Otherwise, I win.**" he said, laying out the plan.

"Urgg. Fine. The stakes?" Nothing was ever simple with him

"**If you win, I will allow you to use 5 tails for the next week in your physical training, instead of the 4 that you have been working with. If you lose, I will hold you to some favor at a future time.**" That was pretty standard choices for him. And it was helpful for her if she won.

"Alright, alright." she agreed.

She'd have to be careful about voicing this to the girl. Maybe alluding to the number of tails? The girl was older than her, so if she _did_ contain the Kyuubi, she would know, as whatever village she had been a ninja for would have trained her by now in using his chakra.

"**I will watch. I am curious to see the result.**" he said. That was abnormal. Usually Chōmei didn't care what went on outside. Maybe this was a bigger deal for him than she assumed.

Fu brought herself back to awareness, just in time for the redhead to put the food down on the table. She sat at the table to the left of her, and served herself some of the fish and vegetables. Fu's mouth was practically watering. It smelled _delicious_. She quickly mimicked the girl, and then started eating.

_Oh, Kami_. It was amazing. She savored the first few bites, just letting the taste of the seasoned fish melt in her mouth.

The girl cleared her throat. "So, uh, whats your name?" she asked.

Fu had to quickly swallow to prevent the food from coming out, and then started laughing uncontrollably.

What the hell? How did the girl not know her name? _Everyone_ knew it. How could she not have managed to pick it up when she was looking around? Fu slapped the table, and tried to catch her breath.

"A-All this time, and you didn't even know my name? Didn't Sado tell you?" The other girl shook her head. Sado had said he might have told her, but apparently even _he_ hadn't. She had gone the whole week not knowing Fu's name. Fu ignored the fact that the reverse was true, as information on the redhead wasn't exactly easy to come by, _unlike her_.

Fu slowly manage to stop laughing. "Oh man, I have got to tell him about this. He thought you had already found a bunch of dirt on me, and was just going to blackmail him. It was almost pitiful when he told me." she said, explaining the reason for her outburst. She wiped a tear from her eye. This gave her the perfect opportunity to try and feel the other girl out.

"My name's Fu. And I'm number seven." she told the redhead nonchalantly, getting back to the amazing meal. She kept an eye on the girl.

"Tayuya." she replied.

Huh. Pretty name. Not what she would have expected.

She didn't seem to catch the reference to the bijū, but Fu was going to make sure, even if it was a little blunt for her tastes.

"You aren't number nine?" Fu asked.

"I have absolutely no fucking idea what the hell you're talking about." Well. There went that theory. And she might have just accidentally given the girl too much information in the process. Not good.

'**I win!**' Chōmei shouted happily in her head.

'_Yeah, yeah, you won this one._' _Again_

Fu laughed at herself out loud to hide her nervousness."Well, I guess he won that bet. I was totally sure this time, too. His streak of luck continues."

'**Because I'm the Lucky Seven! And it was suspicious there was none of Kurama's chakra in her body.**'

'_You know, you could have mentioned that __**before**__ we made the bet._' Now she just felt like she had been cleverly manipulated.

'**It wouldn't have been as much fun watching you, though!**'

Fu decided to ignore him. He got a bit hard to deal with after winning something.

She tried to change the topic to cover-up her mistake. "The food's great, by the way. You really don't need to be nervous. I'm not going to bite your head of or anything. Well, I'll try not to, anyway." She grimaced internally, hoping that what she had done on Wednesday wouldn't come back to haunt her. Tayuya didn't seem to hold anything against her because of it, and just acted as if it hadn't happened.

The other girl sputtered "H-How did you-". Fu just tapped the side of her nose in response. Really? This was the third time that she'd mentioned she could smell things like that. The girl _must_ be catching on at this point.

The room fell silent as Fu continued eating, enjoying every bite. The rice wasn't as good as the fish or the vegetables, but that was to be expected.

"So, uh, how old are you?" the girl asked her. Alright, proper conversation now.

"I'm fifteen." she answered. Not like that changes how the villagers act.

"You live with your parents?"

Fu froze as her mind shut down, and she struggled to keep her thoughts away from _them_. She did not want to get infuriated right now. It would ruin the dinner. "No. I'm by myself, over in the eastern section."

"Well, I'm only seventeen." Huh. She looked younger than that. Fu would have guessed sixteen. But appearance can't tell you everything. The girl went on. "Have you been a ninja for long?"

"Yeah." Fu replied. Her mind automatically jumped to Chōmei's sealing, and how they had made her a ninja immediately after. And how certain people had started showing their true colors.

This was _not_ the time to be reminiscing or getting sucked into her emotions. She managed to fight back the wave that encroached on her feelings and push them back.

Fu tried to deflect the conversation, in order to keep Tayuya from asking too many questions, as each one seemed to want to drag her back into the past and her memories, kicking and screaming.

"You're a ninja too. Or used to be." she stated calmly. Fu gauged the girl's reaction. She had expected more surprise, but Tayuya seemed almost resigned at the airing of that fact. Well then. "Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me."

Fu didn't want the rest of the ninja finding out and taking away the first person who had acted nice to her since Sado. And she was pretty damn sure this girl wasn't a threat to her, or the village. Tayuya's intentions were too unguarded, and all they seemed to be focused on right now was her.

The redhead let out a sigh. "I'm technically not a ninja anymore." she responded, as if that excused everything.

Fu raised an eyebrow. That either meant she had resigned, or deserted. And that she wasn't following orders to be in the village. So she was only here for herself.

"Anymore?" She wanted to hear more about this. Tayuya only nodded.

It seemed there were a couple things she wasn't willing to talk about, too.

"But how could you tell that? Don't tell me it's your nose again." the girl asked. Fu laughed. No, her behavior practically _screamed_ ninja. She didn't need her nose for simple observation.

"Nope, you're wayyyy too quiet. You don't sound like a civilian when you move around. And you're too fluid and conservative in your motions." Fu pointed at the stove. "Like when you were cooking."

Before heading into her mindscape, she had seen the girl in motion. It was perfectly efficient, no wasted moves. Something like that only came with _years_ of practice.

"So where are you from?" Fu asked.

She was curious about this ex-ninja girl's origin. And maybe her answer would explain her strange scent.

"Originally? No fucking clue."

Hm. That was too bad, but not terrible. She had restricted the subject the question, which meant she was trying to avoid answering something else. Probably about her shinobi village. Fu decided to pry a little to find out. "No, as a ninja." she clarified.

Tayuya cursed, and Fu heard it and laughed. She'd hit the nail on the head.

"Sound." the redhead said softly.

Oh. Ew. She had not expected that.

Sound was currently gaining a reputation, and not the good kind. She'd heard horror stories of what was going on.

Nothing good could ever come out of Orochimaru leading a shinobi village, especially considering the reasons he'd been run out of Konoha. Experimentation of the worst kind, with hundreds of children being used as the subjects.

It was not the sort of thing you wanted to think about before you went to sleep.

The redhead tried to defend herself. "I'm not with them anymore! I said that!"

Huh, that was true. At least the girl had decided to get out while she still had her head. Fu had never heard of _anyone_ deserting Sound before, making Tayuya the first.

"Well, at least you wised up." Fu allowed some of her bitterness to seep into the statement. She didn't want to be associated with _anyone_ who condoned or assisted in the depraved things that madman did. Some of it had sounded _much_ worse than anything jinchūriki went through.

"Yeah." Tayuya agreed, seemingly at a loss for anything else to say in response.

The redhead looked up at the wall to her left, and Fu followed her line of sight. It was already 8:30? She needed to be getting home so she could get to sleep and get up early tomorrow for training.

Fu stood up from the table. "Well it's getting pretty late, I should probably get going. It was really good dinner, thanks." While the conversation hadn't been the best, it seemed that was more from inexperience on _both_ their parts, so she could hardly blame that on Tayuya. The food, on the other hand, had been _amazing_.

"No, thanks for coming over. You're, uh, kinda the first person I've really hung out with in town." the redhead said, genuine gratitude in her voice.

What? Really? That warm feeling spread through her body from her center, and instead of quashing it like last time, Fu allowed herself to enjoy it. It was really nice.

"We should do this again sometime." Tayuya offered, if a bit awkwardly.

Fu had no problems with that if she got food like this.

… Except there was the festival next week. Which meant she would be busy with D-ranks for the festival, trying to improve her reputation (she didn't even know why she even tried anymore, really), and that she would be avoiding the civilians as much as possible other than that.

"Alright. Let's wait until after next week, and see how busy things are." she acquiesced.

Fu walked to the genkan to put on her sandals. After she was done slipping them on, she turned around to Tayuya. "Well, thanks again." Fu opened the door, and walked outside, closing it behind her. Instead of jumping away like usual, she walked down the stairs, enjoying the scent of paprika and sea salt as it tickled her nostrils.

Fu heard the door open behind her, and a shouted "Hey!". She turned to look back up the stairs, where the other girl was. "Uh, would you be willing to spar with me sometime?"

Oh, now _this_ was interesting.

Fu allowed herself her first real smile in the girl's presence.

Tayuya seemed to falter at the sight of it, but continued. "I need to improve my hand-to-hand, and you seem like you'd know what you're doing."

Fu felt her smile stretch wider.

This was too good to be true. The girl _wanted_ to spar with the taijutsu specialist?

Well she'd just have to accommodate her, _wouldn't_ she?

"Alright, then. We start tomorrow. 7am. Meet me in the eastern section. I'll find you." Fu shunshined away, bounding to the nearest rooftop.

* * *

_Present_

And now she was here, jumping between rooftops, trying to clear her head from the fogginess that Tayuya seemed to introduce. It was hard not to let her guard slip around the girl, even if she had been less wary than on Wednesday.

Fu had allowed herself to flow through the night, worrying less about what the girl said, now that she knew her intentions weren't harmful in nature. And the redhead seemed to exude this aura that made Fu want to open up to her.

She thought it was partly her comforting scent, but the girl's bluntness also meant that she didn't have to worry about any of Tayuya's feelings being hidden, and her expressions said everything about how she felt.

It was refreshing, and Fu found she preferred it greatly in comparison to how the rest of the shinobi acted, being friendly enough on missions, and then immediately going and talking behind her back, spreading rumors. Plus, she got the feeling that Tayuya was literally _incapable_ of being insincere.

Maybe a friend wouldn't be such a bad idea.

* * *

**A/N:**

I had a lot of fun with this chapter. It's so _different_ writing Fu.

Tayuya wears her heart on her sleeve, but Fu is extremely calculating and guarded when she's around people she isn't comfortable with. She's truly started to open up to Tayuya during their dinner, but still has a ways to go.

I hope you enjoy the homage to Kushina's nickname that I've managed to sneak in. If you didn't get it, go look up _paprika_ on Wikipedia. It was really just for laughs.


	5. Work and Play

**Disclaimer:**

Were the Goken and Jūken the only two martial arts styles referred to by name? If so, I don't own Naruto, or any of that universe.

* * *

**Chapter 5:**  
**Work and Play**

Tayuya woke at five thirty in the morning on Saturday, and just couldn't go back to sleep. So she gave up trying to get a few more minutes, rolled out of bed, and dressed herself in some semi-shinobi-ish gear.

Her clothes consisted of her black stretchy shorts that reached to just above her knees, and a simple red qipao-style top that went over a mesh undershirt and her breast bindings. All in all, it allowed her a great deal of movement, without sacrificing much. It didn't hurt that she liked the colors, either.

Once she was satisfied with her appearance (despite still being sans hat), she went to the kitchen and blearily prepared herself breakfast. A folded egg omelet, some rice, and instant miso. She ate in silence, listening as the birds outside slowly started their goddamn racket, announcing another day.

When she was done eating, she put the dishes in the sink and looked at the clock, groaning. It was only 6. Fu had said to meet her on the east side at seven, so Tayuya had 45 minutes to kill.

She sat back down at the table, pulling out one of Shin's scrolls. She was practicing advanced wind chakra manipulation, and had been able to create a circle of rotating sharpened air above her palm, like a miniature chakram. Shin had told her in a letter that it usually took months, if not _years_ to accomplish that level of shape manipulation, and Tayuya had preened at the compliment. It was nice to find something other than music that she was good at.

Not to say she didn't love her music. Because she did, more than anything else. But she seriously needed some variety in her combat styles. She was solely a long-range combatant, and only really had her genjutsu and her doki summons (plus the now-gone curse seal). That's what she was trying to fix.

Over-specialization could become a ninja's death sentence if they were paired up against the wrong opponent and were unprepared for the worst. And that was exactly what had happened.

So she was trying to focus on her ninjutsu and close-quarters. She knew enough taijutsu to just barely get by, but she knew it was pretty bad. And it was probably nothing compared to Fu's. That girl looked like hand-to-hand was _all_ she did.

Maybe kenjutsu would suit her? Some kenjutsu styles were closer to dance, as Kimimaro had demonstrated, and Tayuya had enjoyed dancing a couple times, following the rhythm of her songs. She'd have to think about it. Trying to learn too much at once wasn't good either. It would just overload her.

Tayuya turned her attention back to the scroll. The next step was trying to create the mini-chakrams above each of her finger tips, exercising the control of the tenketsu that were there. The progression went something like: splitting a leaf (finished in hours), splitting a piece of wood (completed the next day).

Then things had gotten more complicated. Shin had said that the next step was usually cutting a waterfall, but that would be pretty conspicuous, so they had skipped that, and moved right along to the next thing, which was creating blades of wind from the palms of the user's hands.

Tayuya had seen Kabuto doing something similar with medical chakra, and attempted to integrate the palm-blades into her (improvised) taijutsu style, but it hadn't worked out. So she'd moved onto the next step, which was blades from her fingertips. And from there, the chakram in her palms. Bringing her to this step.

When she had been working with the wind-circles over her palms, she'd discovered that her chakra seemed to flow easier in one direction than the other. She'd asked Shin about it, and he had written back, saying that it was due to the direction of chakra flow in the central coils coming off her reserves. Everybody was either clockwise or counter-clockwise. Tayuya was a counter-clockwise person. It didn't really affect anything other than shape manipulation that traveled in a circle. But it was handy to keep in mind.

Keeping her focus, she channeled chakra to her right index finger, the one that she found she had the most control with naturally, and tried to _push_ the energy into a rotating circle above her finger, while converting it to wind. All she managed on the first try was a circular breeze. Nothing like the stable, razor sharp shape that she was aiming for. She gave it another try, and only got the breeze going a bit stronger. Not being fully awake didn't seem to be helping her concentration.

She worked on the exercise for thirty minutes, alternating fingers every five. So far all she'd gotten was a small, ephemeral circle above a couple fingers, but it was still insanely fast progress. When it was about time to leave, she stopped, put the scrolls away, made sure she was ready, and headed outside.

After locking up, Tayuya started heading in the abstract direction of 'east' that Fu had given her. Weaving through streets, keeping an easy pace, getting her muscles moving and warmed up. She fell into a rhythm, and unconsciously began tuning things out.

Until she was startled by Fu dropping right next to her.

"Fuck!". Blood pounding from both the exercise and being startled (though it was more the shock), she slowed down, but tried to keep in motion to keep her muscles from clenching up.

"Hi!" Fu said happily. _**She's**__ in a good mood._

Early mornings… weren't really Tayuya's thing. The other guys had learned it quickly: Stay out of her way until she'd been awake for an hour or two. Even Kimimaro hadn't bothererd her. She was fine on her own. But being around anyone else set her off pretty easily.

However, she _had_ asked Fu for the help. So she'd have to try and keep from biting the girl's head off.

"Hey." Tayuya gave her a weak smile.

"Not a morning person?" Fu asked. _No, but you seem to be one._

Tayuya just shook her head silently, not trusting her mouth to say anything nice.

"Well, you should be awake by the time we get there. We'll be going to one of the Taki training grounds. You _technically_ shouldn't be there, but I don't really care what they think." Tayuya raised an eyebrow at that. So there was no love lost between her and the shinobi, either.

What the fuck was keeping her in the village?

The green-haired girl slowly led her through the streets, towards the outskirts of the village, where houses started becoming wide farms. Once they had passed the densest of the civilization, Fu turned around and gave her a smirk.

"Wanna go faster?" she asked.

"_Please_." Tayuya hadn't had a chance for real tree-running since traveling from Fire Country to Se-shi.

They picked up the pace tremendously, and soon ended up leaping through trees. They parted to show a simple clearing with a small stream on one side, and some targets and straw dummies. There was also a thick wooden pole with three pieces sticking out of it at odd angles, and Tayuya assumed it was for practicing hand-to-hand. It looked like it got a lot of use.

Fu had been right, too. The last dregs of stupor had worn off, and she was fully awake now.

"This is basically my private training ground. Nobody else comes around here, so… I just sort of took it over." the green-haired girl explained. Was that from everyone else avoiding her, or what?

Still looking around, Tayuya voiced her primary question."So uh, what do you usually do?"

"Well, I usually start of with a series of katas to keep my body limber. I get the feeling that I'll be paying more attention to you though." Tayuya felt herself heat up at that. It wasn't like she _wanted_ to trouble the girl, her close-quarters-combat was just really lacking. "But don't worry about it. I just do them for consistency now."

"So you specialize in taijutsu?" She'd assumed as much, but she wanted to know more of the specifics.

"Yup! I've mastered one style to a level I'm comfortable with, an open palm. And I'm working on a closed-fist style now." That was pretty impressive if the girl was telling the truth. "Though both of them have both types of strikes, it's more what the styles lend themselves to."

"… What do you mean by mastered?" Tayuya asked. They weren't talking Orochimaru's Hebi-style mastered, right? He'd been doing that for 30 years.

"Well, why don't I show you? We'll have a little match, and I won't hold back." Tayuya suddenly got the sense that this was a _terrible_ idea.

"A-Alright." Tayuya got into a simple opening stance that allowed for quick defense, anticipating Fu's attack.

Fu smirked as she lowered herself into a more aggressive stance, and kept her palms open, her hands and elbows in front of her chest.

"When you're ready." the green-haired girl said.

Tayuya hardened her expression, but was internally resigned to her loss. Now it was just a matter of seeing how _long_ she could last.

"Start." _Holy shit._

And then Fu was kneeling on her chest, while Tayuya laid on her back in the grass.

Her mind struggled to replay. She had seen Fu coming at her, and kicked at her midsection, trying to maintain distance. Fu had deflected the strike, and stepped _into_ her immediate area, simultaneously trapping her leg with her own, and pushing her chest down with a series of light rapid strikes and punches to her neck, chest, and abdomen. If the strikes had been any heavier, they could have collapsed her airways the two times Fu had hit her neck. She had flowed like water, yet been as solid as a rock.

Tayuya knew her taijutsu wasn't good by any means. But it had done well enough against Sakon and Ukon when they had practiced. Fu had torn that to shreds.

Fu stood up from her position, while Tayuya just sat breathing heavily from the blows. She propped herself up on her hands, looking at the girl above her.

"How-How long did it take you to get that good?" she asked, trying to catch her breath.

"A few years of constant practice, every day. That was _Eishuken_, the Fist of Eternal Springtime, and was the first style I decided to learn, as it's more suited to defense and quick movement, instead of strength, and a lot of the style can be learned on your own. It also raises an extreme awareness of where your body is, and that helps when learning later styles." Fu's face darkened a little. "I started learning it when I was six, from scrolls."

_Six? That's pretty early for non-wartime._

Fu continued. "Eishuken was actually developed by a woman, and it emphasizes fluidity, flexibility, and relaxation. There are six forms, or exercises: three empty hand, one wooden dummy" At that, Fu jabbed a thumb over at the weird wooden post. "and two weapon forms, one with a pair of short blades, the other with a polearm or spear." _That_ statement raised Tayuya's interest. So this style could be applied to a wide variety of things, and easily adapted towards weapons.

"What I showed you was only a small part. True fights with a practitioner of Eishuken lend themselves to extremely fast blows, parries, and deflections, which is particularly effective against other soft styles such as the Hyuuga's Jūken. The other style I'm learning is called _Seishin no Ken_, the Fist of the Inner Spirit, which is a hard style, and a bit more aggressive." More aggressive than _that_?

"You must have spent _forever_ on that." Tayuya said, more than a little awed. Fu blushed from the praise, a bit embarrassed by the attention.

"Nah, not really. I'm not particularly good at anything else, though I do have some ninjutsu for back up. Taijutsu is where I'm the best. I use chakra to enhance my body when necessary, and I can usually overpower anything I come across. I didn't do that in this fight though. That would have just been unfair." Tayuya stuck out her tongue at the girl, and Fu giggled in response.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Tayuya asked. It was unusual to share so much about the basis of one's style.

"Welllll. Your style isn't good for you. You've got a lot of holes." the green-haired girl explained. Tayuya grabbed Fu's offered hand and hoisted herself up.

Tayuya tried to regain her last few shreds of dignity in the face of an outright expert. "I-I don't really have a style. It's mostly just what I picked up." Plus the bits of _Hebi_ that Orochimaru had deigned to teach the Sound Four.

"Haha, yeah, I could tell." The redhead cringed internally. Was is really that bad? "If you want, I could teach it to you, your body type is good for it. The other style needs a lot more muscle and strength, since it focuses on hard blows."

"Why would you do that? Isn't that a threat to you?" Fu looked at her weird for a second, and then turned her head to the sky.

"Nah, I've never met anyone else who can even recognize the style I use, and it's not like _you're_ going to do anything to me, right?" She looked back at Tayuya, and Tayuya started to get that same feeling when Fu had confronted her on Wednesday. Complete domination. The sense that you would be no challenge to destroy.

It wasn't something she was used to feeling, and it made her uncomfortable to not know how to respond. She knew at some point she would encounter people stronger than her, but Fu really didn't give of that aura most of the time, and the snake had been on _their_ side. It was usually her enemies quivering in their sandals.

"N-No! It's just, you're sharing your main method of combat. I don't want to take your thing away from you." she hastily explained her reasoning. Fu looked suprised for a moment, and then laughed.

"It's not really _my thing_. And it would take you years of work to get to where I am anyways. I'm not too worried or so insecure that I would feel threatened by someone else learning it." Fu gave her a grin. "So, how'd you like to replace your taijutsu with something a little better?"

Tayuya smiled at the green-haired girl. "Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

Fu was a slave driver. Worse than Orochimaru, even.

In the three and a half hours they'd been working, she'd run Tayuya through a few of the starting stances, and had her move between them at the drop of a hat, checking for errors and correcting her every time. It was _very_ slow going. Tayuya did not have any skill in, nor the predisposition for, taijutsu. Unlike her shape manipulation.

After that, Fu had decided to give Tayuya a break, as she wasn't really used to this much physical work. She had wandered over to the stream, and washed some of the sweat off of her face and arms, filling up her water bottle and drinking from it before heading over to an area of shade, next to some large trees at the edge of the clearing, sitting down with her back against one.

Fu was working with that wooden post thing, which she had introduced to Tayuya as a good way to get transitions and deflections into muscle memory, as well as a training tool that helped raise awareness of limb placement. Her arms were a blur, and a constant 'thwack-thwack-thwack' could be heard across the clearing.

Fu was _absurdly_ good at taijutsu. The only person she'd ever seen possibly better than her was some bushy-eyebrowed, green-leotard wearing guy who had taken a couple people out in front of Tayuya while she had been maintaining the barrier for Orochimaru in the Konoha Invasion.

But he had nothing on the grace and fluidity that Fu expressed, and Tayuya much preferred the appearance of the two styles that she had shown her. She'd run through a couple katas of each, and then did a few shadow fights, and Tayuya could see what she meant about 'hard' versus 'soft'. The hard style focused a lot more on blows, punches, and kicks, and even her elbows and knees. In contrast, the Eishuken had been more parries and deflections, moving _with_ the simulated attacker and then striking against them in a quick flurry of motion. It was like watching some kind of natural predator. Tayuya doubted that she'd _ever_ be able to match the girl.

Drawing her thoughts away from the green-haired girl, Tayuya decided to continue practicing her shape and nature exercises from this morning. Apparently after the fingertips step, she was supposed to transition to trying to get the mini-chakrams to manifest at tenketsu that almost never got used, like the back of the hand, elbows, and shoulders. But for now, she was focused on her right pointer.

After forty-five minutes of failures, Tayuya finally stabilized a whirling blade of wind above her finger. It had been much harder creating them on her palms for the first time, as she hadn't gotten the feel for the flow of the chakra and its shape. But her fingers were going easier than she had expected, probably due to the amount of time she had put into getting it right on her palms.

"Whatcha doing?" Fu popped up from behind the tree trunk on her right.

"Shit!" The circle flew off of her finger, nearly straight up and to the left, cutting through branches and and leaves, bringing them crashing down to the ground next to them. Fu watched the destruction unfold, a little wide-eyed.

"Stop doing that! That could have killed you!" Tayuya admonished. The stress alone would cause her heart to collapse.

"Nahhh. I would've been fine. And you make it too easy not to. You're cute when you're caught off-guard." Did she really just say that? Fu looked just as shocked as Tayuya felt. "Ehehe. A-Anyways. What was that?"

Deciding to ignore the girl's remark, she answered her. "Advanced shape manipulation practice with wind chakra. The guy who was teaching me this told me I was some sort of prodigy or something."

Fu squatted down next to Tayuya, and kicked her legs out so she was sitting against the tree as well.

"Huh. I'm terrible at stuff like that. I have a wind nature, and I can do a few jutsu, but that's about it." she said.

What the hell was with all of these people with wind chakra that Tayuya kept running into? Wasn't it supposed to be the rarest nature type? Fu brought the number up to 4. First that fan bitch, then Shin, then Tayuya herself, and now Fu.

"Yeah, I've got a water affinity too." Tayuya said. She'd managed to get the hang of converting to water nature chakra easily. It was just finding things that she could do with it that was difficult.

Water Release only truly lent itself to manipulating liquids. And a liquid wasn't sturdy enough for the things she kept thinking of. It couldn't carry an edge without a _lot_ of practice, and was more of an area-effect and defensive nature. Maybe that was something she could look into.

Fu looked surprised. "Two equal affinities? That's pretty rare, isn't it?"

Tayuya nodded. "Yeah, but it's not a bloodline or anything, so it was just as shocking to me too."

She decided to demonstrate. "All I can really do with water right now is this." She brought up a circle of water over her palm, but it was simply a circle, and the water flowed lazily counter-clockwise. "Water's not very suited for what I want. Spin it too fast, and it flies apart." She quickly move her palm out from under it, and the water ring dropped to the ground, splashing and covering the grass in droplets.

"I'm _trying_ to figure out how to work some of these blade things into my mid and close range styles. Anchoring them on my body is a good close range tactic. Mid-range, well." She spun up a larger wind circle on her palm and then pushed it in the direction she wanted with another burst of chakra. It flew silently, perfectly straight, and cut right through the center of a tree trunk. And another. And another.

"Wow. Yeah, I can see that being pretty effective." Fu said, slightly awed.

"The idea is that because it's all just shape manipulation, you can do more with it." At that, she brought a few of the straight blades into existence from the tips of her fingers. "But… these don't really mesh well with what I do either, and I haven't really thought of anything else."

Fu started thinking. "Well, if you could somehow wrap wind around your arms and make it spin fast enough, whenever you deflected on the outside, a the limb would be pushed away, and if you deflected on the inside, they'd get pulled towards you." she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry I can only think about things related to hand-to-hand. It's kinda most of what I do."

"No, it's a good idea." Tayuya countered. It was a good idea.

_I'll just probably never get to try it because I avoid taijutsu fights._

"So what other things do _you_ do?" the redhead asked. Fu was pensive for a moment.

"Not much." the green-haired girl replied. Tayuya wanted to run her palm over face. "I have a couple distraction jutsu that let me get in close and attack. But between those and the physical enhancements I can do, I've never really had a problem with just relying on taijutsu. I'm not susceptible to genjutsu for a couple reasons, so hand-to-hand is usually my best bet."

"What sort of… enhancements?" She was sure the girl didn't mean anything like the curse seal, but other than something external like armor, she couldn't really think of anything . Except… "The Eight Gates?" Tayuya questioned apprehensively.

She hoped not. Those things were crazy. Messing with your own _built-in_ limits to try and get extra power? And they could get permanently screwed up and stuck if you fucked with them too much.

"Nah, nothing like that. Hm." Fu thought for a second before continuing to explain. "Well, you know that lady, Tsunade?" Tayuya nodded. "I can get about three-quarters of her strength into a strike, based on the stories I've heard. And my skin hardens, giving me a bit of an invulnerability to blunt attacks."

_So basically, you're a tank._

"I don't have that instant regeneration thing that I've heard about her having. But it's not too big of a problem, as I can heal from a lot, it just takes time." It still didn't really answer _how_ Fu did it, but Tayuya was willing to let the girl keep some of her secrets.

"Damn. Well, I can see why you don't really need anything besides taijutsu with stuff like that." Fu smiled and nodded.

Speaking of regeneration. That brought Tayuya's thoughts back to the night before. What were the extents that Tayuya could heal? Yesterday had been the second time (that she was aware of). She'd practically lost her legs the first time. What would happen if a limb got removed? What if she was beheaded? That was a morbid thought.

It'd happened twice now, and the two incidents were almost three weeks apart. Which pointed to it being a permanent thing. She was still hesitant to start testing the limits of it. What if there were a limited number of uses? Or she did something irreversible? Yeah. She was going to avoid intentionally activating it if possible. She didn't want to find out she pushed the tests too far, and now couldn't use her left hand or something.

"So you want to get back to working on stances?" Fu asked, a slightly sadistic grin on her face. Tayuya groaned.

"Fuck. Fine. Let's do it, _sensei_." She said, a bit mockingly.

Tayuya pulled herself up from her position against the tree while Fu simply pulled her legs under her and stood up. Gods, the flexibility and muscle control she demonstrated while doing seemingly normal things was unreal.

Maybe this would help her get something like that.

* * *

They worked for another two hours before breaking for lunch. Fu had brought some onigiri, while Tayuya had made a bentō for herself. After she caught Fu eyeing her food a couple times, she gave up and offered some to the other girl.

After that, they let themselves digest a bit, and just talked about places they had gone on missions, Fu not having traveled very far out of Waterfall. So Tayuya had described to her what it was like in the Land of Rice Paddies, and the times she had gone to Hot Water, Grass, and River Country. She avoided talking about Water Country. She didn't want to ruin the conversation.

Fu drilled her on her stances again after that, trying to get the basics into Tayuya. As she said: "Stance is everything. Without a proper stance, there's nothing to build on."

After another two hours, they decided to call it a day, with promises of doing it again tomorrow. Fu seemed to be enjoying herself just as much as Tayuya, and they both agreed that she needed a lot of work, bringing them to the conclusion that this would probably be a daily thing.

Tayuya didn't mind at all. She might even go so far as to say she _liked_ being around Fu. It was nice. The green-haired girl was serious about teaching, and didn't try to coddle her and most importantly, didn't give any of the bullshit of Tayuya having trouble because she was a girl like Sakon and Ukon had pulled. The other three boys in the Sound Four had been mildly sexist, Jirōbō being the worst, and Tayuya had hated it.

If she could've introduced them to Fu, they'd have been singing a different tune.

* * *

Tayuya was walking around the village, trying to find a music store. She'd gone home and showered, and switched into more 'civilian' clothes.

The first one she'd found hadn't sold flutes, only string instruments. So she'd ended up asking the guy behind the counter, and he'd written a list down of all of the ones he could think of in the city that might have what she was looking for.

The second shop she had gone to had told her that there was only one shop in the village that had flutes, and she was mildly ticked at the first shopkeeper for not telling her that. It was kind of his responsibility to know those sorts of things.

So from the second shop, she'd headed to the one they'd told her about. It was near the center of the village. Which meant she had been walking all over, first to the west, then to the store in the south. And now to the center. But she was willing to do it, if it meant she got a new flute.

Which is where she was now, standing at the entrance. She prayed to whatever gods were listening that this would be the last store. The sign over the shop door declared "Danbo's Music Emporium". Weird name.

She opened the door, and was momentarily frozen by a blast of cold air. Well, at least it seemed like they were doing when it came to instrument care. Maintaining a constant humidity and temperature level kept the instruments from going out of tune as quickly. It didn't matter as much for woodwinds, but strings and percussion were notorious for changing with the atmosphere.

She stepped inside the store. "Hello?" A man came out from a door at the back of the shop. He was fairly average height, with brown hair, but wore eclectically colored clothes. Tayuya thought he was little odd, but as a musician that wasn't uncommon.

"Well hello little missy." _Oh, __**fuck**__ no_. "What are you interested in?"

"I'm looking for the woodwinds." She answered tersely, trying to keep her eyebrow from twitching.

"First time player? You might be more interested in thes-"

"I'm looking. for. the. freaking. woodwinds." She gritted her teeth, and exuded a little bit of killing intent.

She wasn't some fucking novice. She knew _exactly_ what she wanted. And if he continued to be condescending and demeaning, she'd show him _precisely_ where he could shove his beginner's instruments. Up. his. ass.

"R-right. Uh, right this way."

His attitude did a complete 180, and Tayuya smiled to herself. Good. She still had it. She'd been worrying that trying to be nice had dulled her intimidation abilities. But apparently not.

The man took her over to a room on the left. There was a side wall covered in various instruments, and Tayuya's eyes automatically jumped between the five flutes she could see, gauging them. She immediately threw out two of them from her choices. Those were actually piccolos. And she preferred the lower range of standard flutes. The one she'd used before was a keyless eight-hole flute made out of a single piece of silver-plated brass. It was simple, easy to maintain, and sturdy.

Her eyes alighted on one that she'd missed. It was a twelve-holed keyed flute, and had intricate leaf patterns etched into the silver extending from the lip plate to the opposite end. The patterns were done in such a way that each segment didn't disrupt the design. It looked sure looked pretty, but that was no gurantee for the sound.

Tayuya lifted it off the wall, and put her fingers on the body, getting used to the positioning. It was a little different in finger placement than her eight-hole, and the finger combinations would be different, but that wouldn't be hard to figure out.

She blew a test note, and frowned when it came out a bit flat. She rolled the flute's body a small fraction away from her and tried again. The sound came out clear and crisp. She tested out the keys, getting used to the notes and extended range that she hadn't had before, and then switched to trying a few scales once she'd run through all the notes a couple times and memorized the finger combinations. She wouldn't play any of her songs on it in the store, but the sound and timbre was beautiful.

Normally she wouldn't even think of getting something like this. But now that she probably wasn't going to be getting into combat situations (at least she hoped not), she could at least _entertain_ the idea of getting a more complex keyed flute. It would require a bit more standard maintenance, and there would be no way in _hell_ that she'd take it into a fight, but she was buying this more for pleasure than as a tool.

She needed the release of playing, not a weapon to defeat other ninja with. On the off chance that Orochimaru sent an assassin or something and the Taki ninja didn't catch them, an auditory genjutsu would take time to set up. Time that an assassin wouldn't give her. Her taijutsu lessons with Fu would help more with getting rid of a would-be-killer than a genjutsu. Tayuya was severely disadvantaged in a enclosed space. And she knew it. It wasn't like she could summon her dokis in the middle of the village, either. _That_ would raise some interest in her she didn't want. So this flute wouldn't be as much for battle, as for herself.

She brought the flute away from her mouth, and was inwardly pleased at the shopkeeper's expression. Yes. She was that good. No beginner's instruments for her.

"You have a good eye." The shopkeeper told her. Tayuya puffed up at the compliment, even if it was from a civilian store owner.

She looked over the instrument, and appreciated the good craftsmanship . It couldn't be _too_ expensive.

"How much is this?"

"Two hundred thousand ryo." WHAT!?

"TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND!?" That was ludicrous!

"W-well, yes." The shopkeeper hurried to explain himself. "It's solid sterling silver, hand crafted. And it's a newer design that fixes some of the maladjustment problems most keyed flutes have. It's a professional-grade instrument."

Urgh. She eyed the flute. She couldn't afford that. She hadn't even made that much working for Yamada yet. This was the first time she'd wished she was still an active shinobi. They made so much more money.

Reluctantly placing the beautiful instrument back on the shelf, she went back to the other three she had been considering. One looked a lot like her old one, and she decided to try it out.

It wasn't _amazing_, but it was nicer than what she'd had before, if marginally. And it was probably for the best in the long term anyways. If she suddenly needed to leave Taki, it would be better to have something she _could_ fight with than something she couldn't. She knew she had really only been trying to talk herself into buying the keyed flute when she had considered it before.

Her flute was really the only thing she had any battle experience with. And a weapon like that was invaluable to have on hand. Her shoddy (though now improving) taijutsu and her shape manipulation was really the only other things she had. Her doki were controlled by sound, and she wasn't really willing to say that she wouldn't get into a situation where she didn't need to summon them.

So it looked like a keyless flute was a better bet _anyways_. She sighed to herself. The other one had sounded so beautiful. But there was really no escaping the fact that she needed a weapon she knew.

"How about this one?"

"Twenty one thousand ryo." Much more doable. It would set her back a little, but not too badly.

"Alright. I'll buy it."

Taking the flute from her, she followed him back to the room she had entered. He went to the back room, and came back with a plastic case which she assumed it had been placed in. He rung her up at the register, and she payed in cash, pulling the money from the small bill-clip in her pants. She took the flute from the counter and walked out of the shop, ignoring the "Have a nice day!" from behind her, heading in the direction of home.

* * *

"TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND!?" Fu winced. That _was_ a lot for an instrument. Not that she knew anything about music. But it _seemed_ like a lot. And based on Tayuya's reaction, it was. She was on a roof opposite the shop, and watched through a window as the redhead put the flute back on the shelf's little holders.

She hadn't _meant_ to follow the girl! Honestly! After they'd split up, Tayuya had headed off, and Fu had gone down to the southern area of village. She'd just hung around for a couple hours in the park, and walked around, ignoring everyone's looks.

Her nose had caught a whiff of that damn tantalizing scent of paprika and sea salt, and she hadn't even registered that she was following it until she was at the door to a music shop. She had quickly jumped up onto a nearby roof to stay out of Tayuya's line of sight, and wondered what she was doing in there.

Fu hadn't really pegged the girl as an artsy type. Though her job _did_ seem to deal with a lot of crafting and woodwork, so she couldn't write it off. Maybe it was a hobby or something? She didn't expect to know the redhead perfectly after only three meetings, but it seemed so… _tame_ for her.

After she'd gone home last night, she'd realized just how much she had enjoyed the dinner with Tayuya, and had been looking forward (if slightly apprehensively) to the impromptu offer she had made on the spur of the moment to join her for her weekend training. But everything had gone perfectly. And so Fu had finally decided to just enjoy herself, and let go. She didn't regret it.

Tayuya was a hard worker, especially when something wasn't easy for her. She would probably never be perfect at taijutsu, but with the amount of effort she was putting in, Fu thought she might be able to get the girl up to a pretty good point in a few months. She stopped as she realized what she was considering. Only dinner and a training session, and she was already thinking about her relationship with Tayuya as a long term thing. Well, relatively long term considering all of her other 'friendships'. Oh, man. She was getting really attached to the redhead, wasn't she?

Tayuya had exited the music shop in the southern quarter, and made her way (rather hastily) to another shop that was in the central district. Fu had followed at a safe distance, her curiosity piqued by what the redhead was doing. Clearly she was trying to buy something, but what?

Fu had been amused by the shopkeeper quivering a little. Clearly he'd made some assumption and Tayuya had been quick to correct him. She could certainly see her being fairly intimidating to civilians who weren't expecting the girl to be as brash and aggressive as she could be.

She'd gotten a glimpse of that on Tuesday, when the redhead had pulled her out of that alley. But since then, Tayuya had been much more subdued and calm. Fu got the impression that the girl was trying really hard to be less… abrasive.

Inside the shop, the man had led Tayuya over to a wall of long, pointy looking instruments.

Tayuya had picked one off of the wall and played it with some measure of talent, based on the reaction of the store keeper. She seemed very satisfied with it. And then she had repeated the price. At such a volume that Fu had heard, across the street.

Clearly, she wouldn't be getting that one. The redhead placed the instrument back, and took another one, but didn't seem to have the same enthusiasm while playing. But she seemed resigned to this one, and ended up paying for it.

Fu quickly ducked behind an A/C unit, to keep Tayuya from seeing her as she exited the shop and walked away. She was practically stalking the girl! That was a concerning thought. She leaped away, in as much an opposite direction of Tayuya as possible.

She wished she could have some of her food for dinner tonight. The bentō had been yummy, but Fu could really go for some good dumplings, and she got the feeling Tayuya would make them perfectly. Her stomach growled, and she sighed. It looked like another lonely night by herself.

* * *

Sunday came, with blinding sunshine and warm temperatures.

The girls met up again in the morning, and Fu continued to teach Tayuya the Eishuken. Tayuya brought two bentōs this time, and Fu ended up eating hers quickly, but still seemed to really enjoy it.

Tayuya worked a bit on her idea of water manipulation, and was trying to figure out way of slowing the movement of the water or a crystal form. Both of which pointed to ice. She had heard of something like that from the Orochimaru's interest in the Land of Snow, but not much else.

In the Land of Water during the blood wars, there had been a clan that had had a bloodline limit that allowed them to create Ice using some combination of Water and Wind. Most of them had been killed before she had been sent there, but people had been telling stories of one kid who apparently had killed a dozen men with it, including his own father. Maybe she could emulate it?

As far as she knew, bloodline limits only gave the ability to _instinctively_ combine different kinds of elemental chakra. Maybe it was possible to combine them on their own? Shin kept saying she had gift for nature transformation and shape manipulation, so maybe it wasn't out of her reach. She vaguely wondered why Orochimaru hadn't looked into things like their elemental affinities, before remembering that he had wanted puppet soldiers and really only seemed to care about their own bloodlines, and not much else.

She'd have to try combining elements later when she was alone, as it had the potential to be pretty dangerous, and Fu didn't have the same healing factor that Tayuya seemed to… not that she was going to be intentionally testing that anytime soon.

Since Tayuya didn't really have anything planned for the rest of Sunday, they had kept training nearly until the sun went down (taking breaks every couple of hours), and cooled down with a series of katas that Fu had her imitate. She decided to invite the girl over for dinner again as a way to thank her for her help, and Fu had practically jumped at that. Allegedly her cooking was really good? Tayuya didn't think it was anything special, but if Fu liked it, she was pleased _someone_ enjoyed it.

She had voiced her thoughts on the pseudo-Ice Release over dinner, and Fu had only offered words of encouragement, saying that while she would probably never be able to do something like that, Tayuya seemed to have a real gift and that she should go for it.

Tayuya noticed that Fu seemed much more open and vocal over the past two days compared to Friday night, but kept those thoughts to herself, not wanting to reverse the progress she had made and make the other girl clam up. Fu left around nine this time, but said she'd be back, if just for the food. Tayuya knew she was only kidding, but it still made her inordinately pleased that she had managed to connect with someone else.

They made plans to meet up every morning for the next week, starting early in the morning so that they'd get some practice in before Tayuya had to go to work. Tayuya appreciated that the green-haired girl was going out of her way to help her so much when she wasn't obligated to.

And so, the week of the festival arrived.

* * *

**A/N:**

I've seen a couple fics where Fu is jutsu-focused. I decided to take a different approach. Rhinoceros beetles are known for their great physical feats and ability to exert forces far beyond their body weight. Therefore, in this story, Fu is a taijutsu specialist, and only uses regular jutsu to augment that.

Fu's martial arts styles are Wing Chung and Hapkido respectively. Eishuken is the official Japanese translation for Wing Chung.

And with a name like "Fist of the Eternal Springtime", you'd think Guy and Lee might be open to learning such a style. :P

Odd factoid I learned in researching:  
The Hyuuga's Jūken is based on Bagua Zhang, right down to the usage of 8 trigrams (Bagua) and 64 hexagrams, a "circle" (field of divination) which the user uses as a guide, and the smooth coiling and uncoiling actions in striking.

I bet you recognize that boy from Kiri…


	6. Old Faces, New Feelings

**Disclaimer:**

Did _Naruto_ ever show romantic development between two characters of the same gender? If not, I don't own Naruto, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 6:**  
**Old Faces, New Feelings**

Fu and Tayuya met up both Monday and Tuesday morning, continuing to practice together. Tayuya was coming to appreciate the benefit of having someone teach you a taijutsu style, instead of learning it on your own. Especially when that style suited you, and your teacher was a master. It made catching and correcting mistakes earlier on much easier.

Tayuya would then go and work with Yamada on the last sets of masks, while Fu went off and did a mission or two. They met up for lunch, and ended up just talking about various things, like kunoichi clothing, and senbon vs shuriken vs kunai (Fu was an avid kunai proponent, as she could use them up close). Both of them just found themselves relaxing and having fun, which made them happier overall.

Wednesday brought a change of pace.

The first day of the 'Tree of Life' festival had a different schedule for both of them, and while they managed to meet up for training before work, they had to forgo lunch as Tayuya was busy setting up the mask stand with Yamada. Fu still found her and offered to help, ignoring the stink-eyes of the people around them. There was a lot of carrying heavy boxes of the wooden masks, and Fu's aid had made things _much_ easier.

Yamada was too boring to even really care that Fu was helping them, more grateful for the assistance as 'his back wasn't what it used to be'. Tayuya secretly thought he didn't even know what Fu's reputation was, as he didn't seem to talk to anybody at all other than her.

They managed to finish setting up the stand around three-thirty, with at least two or three of every type of mask they had made spread out on the table, and a great deal more in reserve behind the counter. Yamada asked her if she had any yukata, and Tayuya had hesitantly replied in the affirmative.

He'd asked her if she'd be willing to wear it, as something like that usually helped to attract customers, but it wasn't until Fu had said she was rather curious to see what it looked like that Tayuya reluctantly agreed to wear one. She wasn't some eye-candy to look pretty. Kimono weren't really her thing either.

She went home and showered, before laying out the three garments she had that Yomi had given her. Tayuya eventually settled on a black one with a red-pink cherry blossom pattern. It was a bit flowery for her preferences, but the others were even worse in that regard. She picked out a red obi, and tied it around her waist. She didn't do anything to her hair. Fuck that. Swapping her ninja-sandals for geta, she headed back to where the stand was at the center of the village,

Fu said she looked nice, and that was all that she really cared about. She didn't give a shit what other people thought.

The festival was starting to really gear up around five-thirty, and the mask booth was busy enough that Tayuya had to tell Fu she would try and find her later, as there was no way she would have a chance to step away for dinner. So the green haired girl had headed off, slipping between the throngs of people.

It was almost eight before the crowds of people around their booth died down, and Yamada had said that's what it was usually like, with most people coming for the masks at the beginning. He'd told her he could handle it from here on out, and that she should go and have some fun, but he'd need her help to temporarily pack the stand up for the night, since they still needed it for the next two days.

* * *

After searching for nearly an hour, Tayuya finally found Fu, cornered in an alley _again_. But this time, she was surrounded by a dozen people, all of whom seemed to be calling her names and voicing their opinion that Fu should go and die somewhere far away.

Tayuya growled. Why did she just let them do that to her? From what she'd seen of the bright, cheerful girl, there was no reason for it.

Almost running forward, she nearly tripped because of her geta, but caught herself before she fell.

_Goddammit. Note to self: Fast walking only in these things_

She got to the end of the alley and pushed through the scrum. The group, unnerved at the presence of an outsider, immediately stopped their taunting, allowing her to slip through them towards the green-haired girl.

Fu's orange eyes were vacant and dull, showing none of the vibrancy they usually held. Tayuya moved in front of her, ignoring the crowd at her back that seemed to be shocked at the intrusion, and started snapping her fingers in front of her face.

"Fu! Come on, come on, snap out of it."

After a couple seconds, her eyes started to brighten.

"Tayuya? What're you doing here?" she asked groggily.

Tayuya chuckled, a bit of darkness seeping into the sound. "We've _really_ got to stop meeting like this."

The group behind her broke into a low murmur. What was the girl doing? Why was she helping the demon?

One person stepped forward out of the group. A middle aged man wearing glasses. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing! Why would you help it!?"

"IT!?" Tayuya rumbled and spun around. "I should be asking _you_ the same fucking question! What the fuck do you think you're doing!?"

The group seemed to be uncomfortable at the question, until one person spoke up at the back. "We're teaching it a lesson!" There were murmured assents at that, and they seemed to grow their collective spine back.

Tayuya started seeing red.

"Well, that's too bad." Tayuya grinned viciously. "How about _I_ teach _you_ a lesson instead?" She started cracking her knuckles, and leaked a little intent to harm. She had a strict 'no fights because of emotions' rule, but they were civilians, and thus didn't count, and she was getting pissed off at the way they were acting.

A hand on her arm stopped her. "Don't." Fu's voice broke through her rage-induced haze. "Just don't"

Tayuya stopped stepping forward and turned her head around to look at the green-haired girl. "It's not worth it. _They're_ not worth it." she said softly. Tayuya wanted to yell at her and say '**_They_ **_may not be, but_** _you_ **_are_'. Because Fu _was_ worth it.

Fu had spoken soft enough that the gathering wasn't able to hear her, but evidently one of them had seen her lips moving.

"What are you saying you bug bitch!? Come over here and tell it my face!" Tayuya snarled at the comment. She really, really, _really_ wanted to punch something. What the fuck did they think justified treating her like this? There was absolutely nothing that she could think of. Fu was too nice for anything that would get her this sort of attention.

But Fu had asked her not to. And Tayuya would respect that. So she clamped down on her anger and shoved it to the back of her mind. "Fine. Let's just go." she spat.

She started walking forward again, edging towards the collection, pushing them back towards the entrance of the alley. The motion slowly agitated the cluster of people, as they were stepping back to keep a distance between themselves and Tayuya, and the friction and agitation reached a boiling point. One of the voices tried to appeal to Tayuya.

"Don't let it trick you! You just haven't seen what it's really like! It's a monster!"

Tayuya looked back at Fu. In a moment, all the blood had drained from the girl's face, and she looked like she was about to fall to pieces. She started breathing rapidly, and Tayuya realized that the girl was beginning to withdraw into herself in protection from something. What had set her off? She tried to think of something she could do.

Seeing Fu's hand hanging limply, she reached for it. Grasping it tightly, she squeezed. Fu's breathing seemed to slow down a bit at that, and the color started coming back to her face. Good. Tayuya seethed at the fact that they had almost caused her to shut down again, this time from panic instead of voluntarily.

She turned to the group and leveled an arctic-cold glare at them.

"You're wrong. She's my friend. And I wouldn't care even if she was a 'monster', because _at least she's better than you_." Fu's head snapped up towards Tayuya.

"And right now, the only _monsters_ I can see here are _you_ and your _fucking imaginations_." she hissed. Tayuya wasn't aware of the frost that began crackling and coating the walls around them, spreading out from her feet in a venous pattern. A wind rose up from behind the group that felt like it went right through their clothes and straight to their bones, blowing harshly.

Tayuya strode towards the entrance on a warpath, too intent on leaving to notice the '_crunch_' of ice beneath her wooden sandals. The group had stopped moving backwards, and when she got within five feet, she growled. "Now get the _fuck_ out of my way." If they didn't move, she was going to end up making them.

Luckily for them, their sense of self-preservation seemed to prevail, and the conglomeration split down the middle. Tayuya stalked past them, unable to even look at them from the amount of pure, unadulterated _fury_ she was feeling.

She couldn't stop walking. If she did, she'd go back. And she really didn't want to disappoint Fu. Not right now when the girl seemed to need her.

The festival was still in full swing, and Tayuya wove through the crowds, moving without any real purpose, just moving for the sake of moving. Moving for the sake of getting further away.

She felt a tug on her hand, and turned around. They had stopped in the middle of the street.

"I-I think I should go." Fu mumbled. Her voice was flat, and devoid of feeling, barely noticeable from the surrounding commotion of the festival.

"What? Why?"

"I just… need to get away. Away from the people." Fu's state reminded her of glass: strong in certain areas, but liable to shatter if you hit just the right spot.

Was this what she had been like in Shin and Yomi's house? If so, the last thing the girl needed was to be completely alone. She would just internalize, and Tayuya could see the thinly veiled vulnerability and roiling emotions that Fu tried to keep from showing. She wasn't comfortable leaving the girl alone like that.

"Alright then, lets go." Tayuya ignored Fu's incoherent sounds of denial. She turned around again, still holding Fu's hand to keep her from escaping, and pushed through the crowds, searching for somewhere quiet and out of the way.

She didn't know where she was going, but walked forward anyways. When they found a park that the festival ran alongside, she decided it would have to do. Pulling Fu along, she moved away from the festival, and towards a secluded area shadowed by trees, raised up a little, and surrounded by a short stone wall.

"This better?" she asked. She hoped it was, this was the best they were going to get for now.

Fu just nodded. Tayuya looked her over. She _looked_ okay. But it still felt like she was seconds away from something snapping.

Tayuya realized she was still holding Fu's hand, and hastily let it go. Fu's face flickered for a moment, but Tayuya wasn't able to catch what it had shown. She hopped up onto the wall and kicked off her sandals. When you weren't used to them, geta were absolutely killer. Fu pulled herself up next to her.

They sat together in silence, Tayuya trying to help simply by being there. And she knew from experience that it _did_ help.

"Did you mean it?" Fu whispered. Tayuya almost missed it, it was spoken so softly.

What was she talking about? She tried to think back to the last thing she had said that would match up with the girl's question. Oh. Right. Being a better person.

"Yeah, you're totally better than them." _Fu_ didn't go around actively terrorizing people.

"No, about being friends." Fu's voice was still flat, but it was a calmer flat now.

"Well, I'd like to think so." she said in reassurance. Tayuya turned to the girl next to her. "Is that not okay? Sorry if I'm going too fast. We've known each other for less than a week" A sniffle came from Fu's nose.

Fu wiped at her eyes and then shook her head, looking at the ground. Tayuya tried to get a good look at her face. Was she crying? Why was she crying? Had she said something wrong? Damn her mouth. It always got her in trouble.

"Was it something I said?" Fu gave a giggle and shook her head, and Tayuya's spirit rose. If she was feeling well enough to laugh, she had to be doing much better.

"No." she shook her head again. "Being friends is fine." she said quietly.

"Oh. Alright then." Her eyes cleared, and she looked up, staring at Tayuya with wet eyes.

Tayuya was a bit uncomfortable at that, and turned away to avoid her eyes.

They just sat there for a while, enjoying the company, watching the people thrum in the business of the festival down below.

Fu broke the silence again. "Even if I'm actually a monster?" she whispered.

What? Oh. Jeez. This girl had some serious issues. Not that Tayuya could point any fingers.

"Yeah. Even if you're a monster." _And even if I don't exactly know what that means._

Fu laid back on the grass, becoming still. Her breathing slowly evened out. Tayuya looked over at her face, trying to gauge the girl's current mental state, and was surprised to see her eyes open. She'd thought that she'd fallen asleep. Fu's eyes flicked over in her direction, and Tayuya looked away, embarrassed she had been caught staring.

"Thank you." It was so softly spoken, it almost drifted on the wind.

But Tayuya had heard it.

And that was what mattered.

* * *

The word '_monster_' continuously echoed through Fu's head, even now, nearly an hour later. The voice. The tone. The same sound.

She'd never thought she'd run into him again. She had avoided that area of the village like it was infested by a plague. But apparently, he had sought her out. Found her. Accosted her. Insulted her. All from the relative safety granted by acting as a part of the group.

Her _father_.

She thought she'd react in anger, lashing out at him for all the pains he had caused in her life along with her mother. She thought she would explode, unable to contain her righteous disdain and fury.

Instead, she had froze.

Stuck in the body of a six-year-old.

Living her memories all over again.

* * *

**Nine years earlier**

"Your daughter-"

"Don't! you _say_ that. That _thing_ is not our daughter." the voice was filled with venom in a way she had never heard before. It scared her, and Fu struggled to repress a whimper from her hiding spot.

Her father and mother hadn't talked to her ever since she got the really painful tattoo on her chest last week that gave her more of that 'chakra' stuff that the ninja-men had told her about. Her hair and eyes had changed colors, and she thought they looked pretty now. But whenever she said anything to her parents, they wouldn't look at her anymore.

The shinobi man sighed.

"Nevertheless, she killed a child today." his voice was grim. "We weren't anticipating her body adapting so rapidly."

She froze behind the door. Killed? What did he mean? How could she have killed him? She'd only hit the other boy in the face like he'd been doing to her. Roughhousing didn't kill anyone. She'd tussled with other kids for years now. She couldn't have killed him. He _had_ stopped after she hit him once. But that was normal for her. Everyone else said she hit like a boy.

"His neck was snapped at one of the cervical vertebrae. Instant death. It was painless."

"It must have been feeling _merciful_." the cold voice didn't sound nice.

She couldn't have killed him. She'd only hit him. She had to tell them. Had to make sure they knew that. It couldn't have been her fault. She ran into the room, unable to keep listening from the crack in the door.

"Daddy! I only hit him once! I'm sorry!" She ran over to him, sobbing.

Neither of her parents turned to her, not even acknowledging her very presence. His eyes were like cold glass, not full of warmth like they had been last week.

"Mommy! I promise I didn't mean to! I'm sorry! I'll try harder!" She didn't even know what she was supposed to try harder _at_, but she just wanted them to look at her, to see her. Nothing moved their gaze from the other man.

She reached out for her father's pant leg, trying to get his attention. She tugged it, and he recoiled, slapping her across the face with the back of his hand. She fell to the ground backwards, silently gasping in shock from the pain that spread across her face.

His eyes finally turned in her direction. But they were completely empty, and refused to focus on her.

"Don't touch me you _monster_. How could you pretend to be our daughter!? How you could kill her, and then act like her _sickens_ me. It's inhumane. You _are_ a demon."

The shinobi man interrupted "We're offering to train her to better control herself."

"Take it. We don't want anything to do with it. We'll be warning the others."

The ninja man had sighed again, but agreed.

Everything happened in a whirlwind. The shinobi man went upstairs, and come back down with a suitcase. He picked her up from where Fu was still sitting on the rug, tears running down her face, and taken her to a large concrete facility, putting her in a sparsely decorated room. She had never seen the man again.

It was the beginning of the rest of her life.

* * *

**Present**

Fu yanked herself away from the memory. Again. For the _third_ time.

The training had been four years of a combination of ANBU-level training regimens and working with Chomei's chakra.

It had been extremely harsh and almost impossible.

But she came out of it able to grasp a glass of water without having it shatter and to punch a seven foot crater into a five-foot thick stone wall at the age of nine. Now she could handle delicate objects without thinking about it, but it had been very difficult in the beginning.

Fu had become well-acquainted with Chomei in those years, as he had been the only one she was able to talk to in the ANBU bunker. It had only made it even easier to use his chakra, and she had also left able to do a complete seven-tailed transformation if she wanted. But she didn't. Fu had better things to do with his chakra than become a giant beetle. She was slowly developing a custom self-enhancement transformation, but she was only at the point where she could handle four tails in it, because of how it affected her body.

Humans were just too fragile.

For years after that incident with her parents, she wondered if it had been her fault. If there had been something she could have done. If something different would have changed the outcome. If she hadn't killed Daichi (as she later found out the boy's name had been), would it have changed how things turned out?

She eventually came to the conclusion that it wouldn't have mattered. Her parents had been looking for a monster, a demon, so they had seen one. She didn't know why. She _couldn't_ know why. It was incomprehensible and irrational. That they would go from loving parents to people who would abandon her. But as she learned, _people_ were incomprehensible and irrational.

Her parents were mentally unstable and insecure in some way, and had latched onto her new status as a bijū-container as a way to feel relief from the pressure. It was cruel. And from their perspective, it was logical, sane, and completely justified. Even in spite of the things that the ninja had informed them beforehand, when Fu had shown a high aptitude and potential for being Chomei's host.

There was nothing she could have done about it. They would have just used a different incident sooner or later. People always feared what they couldn't understand. And as her parents were civilians, this was something that seemed almost magical, and they jumped to conclusions, not allowing anyone else to dissuade them.

And because of them, the rest of the village had been 'warned'. Which mostly just involved her parents gossiping and telling stories.

How they had seen the light slipping from their girl's eyes during the sealing, only to be replaced with the gaze of a demon. How her hair and eyes had changed colors, from their original warm brown to the green and sharp orange, indicating the possession. How she had been emotionally distant immediately after the sealing, and how that was proof that the demon had been adjusting to the body, when in reality she had been in a great deal of pain. How she had killed the other boy without regrets, in cold blood, and how that showed how monstrous she was and that the demon would come after their blood, when she had simply not understood why the boy had stopped moving, thinking she had knocked him out.

It would have been impossible to make them happy. And so she had given up seeing them as parents, instead seeing them as people who were the source of all her troubles in the village, letting her natural rage fester and develop, which she had held onto for _years_.

Sado had gotten her to talk about them. Only a little. But it had still helped relieve some of the pressure. She had managed to let go of a great deal of anger towards them, but some still remained. She still got upset thinking about them. (Who wouldn't?) But now she mostly just pitied them and the majority of the village for being such simple, closed-minded fools.

Chomei wasn't even that bad. They talked a lot, and joked around, and were on really good terms, but most of the time he just slept in the seal. And _he'd_ never been outright mean or cruel to her.

Still, the villagers continued in their delusions, believing things like when she used insects she was controlling them to do evil things. It was truly pathetic.

They weren't worth her time.

* * *

After another hour or so, Tayuya and Fu headed back into the festival. Tayuya led them back by her booth to get Fu a mask, thinking it might make things easier, and make her feel a bit more safe and secure. Fu picked out a traditional _Oni_ mask, and put it on her head covering her face. Tayuya practically groaned. This girl's self-image was _terrible_. Maybe it was unconscious or something.

She really had to do something about that. Tayuya went around to the back of the stand where the extra stock was, and found a white wolf mask. Much better.

Holding it behind her back, she returned to the front of the booth, and faced Fu.

"I _really_ don't think that mask suits you." She reached up and gently lifted the oni mask off of Fu's face, allowing her to see the complete shock that was written across it. She set it to the side. "I think that this one is much better."

The other girl's eyes followed her hands as she brought the wolf mask from out behind her back, and raised it over Fu's head, pulling the string to the back and gently putting it in place.

"T-thanks."

"M-hm." She wanted to say something more though. "You can't let what they say get to you. Because that means they've won." Tayuya realized as she was saying it that she had done exactly that, and had almost gotten into a fight.

"T-That may seem hypocritical, and you're supposedly pretty good at ignoring them, but something got to you tonight. And me. But mostly you. But-" Kami this was hard. This was _way_ out of her comfort zone. But Fu _really_ seemed like she needed the reassurance. "I-If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here."

The aura around the green-haired girl brightened a bit. "Th-thanks."

Once they left the stall, the nasty looks and glares stopped, as if magically, the mask doing its job of concealing Fu's identity. The two wandered around, just having fun, trying hard to forget the events in the alley. They played at a couple of the game booths, but didn't collect any of the prizes.

One thing they _did_ come across was a stall that was selling bracelets. As the pair passed by, Fu had stopped Tayuya, and gone back to the booth. She picked out two, and paid for them. She handed them back to the stall owner, and he took them, holding a half-ram handseal, which made Tayuya mildly interested. When Fu came back to Tayuya's side in the middle of the street, she explained it.

"They're chakra linked bracelets, always pointing in the direction of the other one." she fell quiet for a moment before continuing. Tayuya was slightly annoyed at the mask now, as it kept her from seeing the other girl's face and expressions. "I-It's kind of a… c-couple's thing". Tayuya saw Fu's neck turning red.

"B-But! I figured it was only fair, since I can find you anywhere anyways. Now you'll just be able to do the same." Oh. That _was_ useful. Especially considering if she had found the other girl earlier than she had tonight, the entire debacle might have been avoided.

Tayuya took the one that the other girl offered, a light green with leafy designs and a few beetles, putting it on her wrist, and sure enough, it swung around her wrist so that the largest leaf was pointing in the direction of the other bracelet. She looked over at Fu's. It was red, and were those…

"Peppers? What kind of significance does that have? I mean, I get the beetles cause you're all into insects and can talk to them, but chili peppers?"

Fu stalled in the middle of putting hers on.

"Y-you smell like paprika… a-and sea salt" Fu said, her voice low. "It's nice. Pleasant."

Huh. "Thanks, I guess." She'd never been complimented on how she'd smelled before. Not that she _minded_. She just hadn't been expecting it.

"What does that mean? Those two smells?" Tayuya's curiosity demanded that she ask.

"I-I don't really know. I've never come across anybody else with either of them." Fu replied. So she was unique? And in two ways apparently. Her ego inflated a bit.

They ended up drifting around the festival a bit more, enjoying the energy that saturated the air. As the festival wound down for the night, Tayuya led them back to the mask booth.

"So, uh, Yamada wanted me to stick around to help him pack up the stand for tonight, and there's not as much boxes and stuff, so I guess we'll have to call it a night here."

Fu nodded as they walked around to the front of the stand. "Alright! I-I had a lot of fun…"

Tayuya smiled. "Yeah, me too."

"Um, I'll see you tomorrow." Fu almost looked like she was going to do something, but halted herself and tensed up.

And then she disappeared, leaving Tayuya wondering what exactly _that_ had been about.

* * *

Fu took a few hours to clear her head from the fuzziness that the redhead seemed to induce. Something was happening to her. She had almost kissed Tayuya on the cheek at the end there. She had managed to quash the impulse, but part of her mind had been screaming at her for it. This was not comfortable. She wanted answers. And Chomei seemed to have some kind of idea what was going on.

She dove into her mindscape, fully intent on getting something out of this. She didn't _need_ to visit him to communicate, but she wanted to see him. It was a lot easier having a conversation with him when she could read his body language.

The stone fortress seemed to flow around her as she moved towards the area where he was.

"Choomeeiiii!"

She walked down the stairs, following the pipes that mirrored her chakra network into the room that represented her seal.

"Chomeeeeiiiiiii!"

The giant kabutomushi almost seemed to be expecting her. That was fairly unusual.

"**Yes?**" He lounged at the edge of her seal, right at the corner closest to her, and she walked right up to him.

"What the hell is happening to me!? I almost kissed her!"

"**I know. I was watching.**" His voice carried an undertone of extreme amusement.

"Wha- Why were you watching!?" She was slightly mortified at that. What exactly had he seen? And he felt her impulses?

"**It is the first entertainment I have gotten in decades. You can not blame me for wanting to enjoy it.**"

"My life is not some, some TV show!" she shouted angrily.

"**Indeed. It is better.**" he said smugly. She obviously wasn't going to win this one.

"Whatever." She'd ignore his platonic-voyeuristic tendencies for now. "Do you have any clue what the hell is going on?"

"**Of course.**" What? Just like that? She waited for a few seconds.

"Well? What is it?"

"**Oh, I can't just **_**tell**_** you. That would ruin half the fun.**"

"What!? Chomei! This is important! What's going on with me!?"

The beetle looked in thought for a moment. "**Perhaps I can simply give you a clue.**" He nodded. "**Yes. That will work.**" He lowered his helmet-visor down to her level. "**Why do you think you're so much more sensitive to her scent than to all the others? Why does it affect you the way it does? I can tell you that it is not because of **_**her**_**.**"

That was a _really_ good question. Why was Fu so sensitive to it? And Chomei seemed to be implying that nobody else would find it as tantalizing. Even if her beetles seemed to enjoy it, they didn't react half as much to the soothing scent as she did. But she still didn't get it.

Chomei sighed. The girl was obviously not understanding his implications. "**In nature, what draws two insects to each other?**"

She replied instinctively "Their phere-" Oh no. Kami no. She was not _attracted_ to Tayuya. Yes, the redhead was physically attractive, and she seemed to be a good person, but! She did not want to _mate_ with her. She suppressed that thought at feeling her face heat up to sun-burn levels.

No way in _hell_. They were both girls!

And Chomei seemed to be implying that since she had _always_ been reacting to the girl's scent like that, Fu had been interested in her from the very start. She reigned in her slight anger at feeling like the situation was out of her control, and tried to focus on _why_ it seemed to be happening.

"So… what? Is this some animalistic thing? Is this part of being a jinchūriki? My body decides these things on its own?" That had _not_ been in the metaphorical brochure.

"**Not… exactly. My hosts tend simply to react more comfortably to the scents of people with similar personalities. It is not a condemnation. Nor is it an assurance. It simply indicates that you are compatible people who are likely to get along. It does not control you, nor does it push you do to things that are against your will.**"

So… he was saying that at some level, she _wanted_ this? Fu fell back on the stone floor, and splayed her limbs out, just trying to think.

She definitely hadn't _felt_ manipulated by the scent. It had just been warm and fuzzy and given her a feeling of security, making her want to open up and let the girl in (which she had, tonight). But that was the dangerous thing about instincts that you couldn't control: they could do things to your mind without you even noticing.

She really _didn't_ want to think about the possibility that she had been looking at Tayuya as a potential romantic interest all along. It felt… uncomfortable. Like she had been deceiving the girl with her actions in becoming a friend.

But Chomei had never lied to her before. And he didn't seem to have a reason now, either.

"So it was all me? _I_ was the one who pushed things in that direction?"

The large beetle shifted uncomfortably, and Fu almost laughed at the imagery combined with the frustrating situation.

"**There were probably a number of factors. It is not just you. It is not just her. You cannot place the blame with any one party. Your history, and need for a companion most likely realized itself in you reaching out for her in a stronger way than you had intended. But I truly do not know. Matters of the human heart are beyond my comprehension.**"

That had some merit, though. Even if the kabutomushi didn't like becoming involved in discussions of human interaction and philosophy, he still could see things logically.

Her history _did_ indicate a distinct lack of human presence. Was it really that simple? She had just been looking for someone else, and latched strongly onto the first person she had come across?

"But, we're both girls!"

"**I… I am afraid I do not understand the significance of that.**"

"That's not how it's supposed to work. It's supposed to be a guy and a girl! Not two girls!"

"**Ah. I see. You are concerned because you are sexually identical, and thus do not have the ability to produce offspring.**"

Fu felt her face heat up again. "No! I mean, yes. But no!"

"**I'm afraid that matters of human sexuality are also beyond me. While we bijū have gender, we do not suffer from physical directives that push us towards mating and reproduction. We are simply masses of sapient chakra. If it is not a concern of physical compatibility, why does it matter the gender? I do not understand why the fact that you are both female is of any significance.**"

Fu paused. Why _was_ that bothering her so much? Why was it an issue if she was attracted to girls? Maybe because of the thought that if it had been a guy instead of Tayuya she would have been just as attracted to him? Or had she always been interested in girls, which was why she had never even _considered_ Sado in that way? Sado was like her brother. They hadn't always been like that, but that's what it felt like now. Had she immediately pushed him into that role because of her lack of feelings towards him in any other form? Urgh. It was not fun self-diagnosing your psychological issues.

She cradled her head in frustration. "What should I doooo?"

She wasn't really expecting a reply, and was caught off-guard when Chomei responded.

"**Is there anything that **_**can**_** be done? You appear rather attached to each other by now. Creating a distance would only serve to raise her suspicion, and make things more difficult, for both of you.**"

Yeah. And she really liked Tayuya. No matter if she was attracted to her or not (she _totally_ was), she didn't want to break off the first connection she had made with a person in _years_ just because she was afraid of it becoming romantic.

Is that where the problem lay? Was she afraid of being abandoned again? Tonight had raised some serious questions as to whether she had lingering, unresolved issues with her parents. Was she afraid that if she gave someone her heart again, they would just break it beyond all recognition?

There was no changing the facts, now that she could see what was going on. She was interested in the other girl. Is this what a crush felt like? It did _not_ help that Fu saw the redhead every day now. That only made things worse.

Her poor, shriveled heart was unused to _feeling_ so much, and she was slightly afraid she would get swept up in her emotions and end up doing something stupid that only served to push Tayuya away. And Fu didn't know if she'd be able to handle not ever seeing her again.

Oh gods. She had it _bad_, didn't she?

She rolled around on the ground in front of Chomei while he watched on in curiosity. Why did her life have to get so _complicated_? She wasn't blaming Tayuya, or regretting that she was getting to know her. But this just really threw a wrench into the whole "Hey! Let's be good friends!" thing they had going on. Arrghh.

She'd just have to deal with it a day at a time. Not to mention Tayuya _still_ seemed to have no clue about Chomei. That was a whole different problem in itself. Fu stopped rolling as she recognized that this conversation had been the _second_ time recently that Chomei had mentioned the other tailed beasts. And now was the perfect opportunity to question him. She ignored the part of her mind that said she was only doing this to distract herself from the real issue of Tayuya.

"Chomei. You keep talking about the tailed beasts. You were so tight-lipped before" She ignored for the moment that he didn't actually _have_ lips. "What changed?"

Chomei stepped around inside the stone triangle, before standing still and seeming to grow weary.

"**We have lost contact with Kokuo.**"

She didn't recognize the name. "Who?"

"**The five-tails. He blessed his host with the Boil Release, an elemental recomposition of Fire and Water. His latest host, Han, was supposedly very skilled. Very powerful based on what Kokuo had been saying before. Similar to you in combat style.**"

She was almost afraid to ask. "A-And what happened to them?"

"**We do not know. But it seems like Kokuo may have been forcibly removed from his host and sealed into some object that cuts off all contact with the outside world.**" He brought his large face down within in inches of hers.

"**A forced extraction from our host is one of the most painful, agonizing things that can be experienced. To both the host, and the bijū. And it always results in the previous host's death, as your chakra has adapted and become dependent on ours, giving rise to your abilities, but ultimately leaving your chakra network collapsing if we are not present.**" He moved his head away to give her some room.

That did not sound like something she wanted to have a first-hand experience of anytime soon. Great. So there was someone out there that could take down a skilled, experienced jinchūriki like he was saying this Han was. That was not good.

"**This is yet another reason to continue associating with the other girl. She seems to only have your best interests in mind, and is a skilled combatant, despite her weakness in the areas you excel. That is actually for the best, as you balance each other well. And she is progressing with her chakra manipulation at a rate I have not seen since my creation.**" His voice grew distant at that, as if he was remembering something, but then he came back. "**Did you take notice that she created **_**ice**_** in the alleyway where you were confronted?**" Fu had seen the slight sheen of _something_ as they left, but she hadn't thought anything of it.

"**She does not have the genetic disposition to meld those two elements, and yet she is still able to do it instinctively in periods of stress. It is perplexing. If she is able continue advancing at her current rate, she could become an even more powerful ally.**"

"So, what do we do? What can _I_ do?" she asked.

He stopped at that, thinking for a moment. "**We are not aware of how this happened, or who or what caused it. Acting on incomplete information would be rash and unwise. Perhaps if we were able to gather the other jinchūriki, there would be safety in numbers. Or it might lead to our demise all the quicker. But out of all of the bijū, I am perhaps the only one who has discussed this with my host.**"

Fu was taken aback at that, and must have shown it.

"**Is it really so surprising? We share one of the strongest and most amicable bonds of all the jinchūriki, Gyūki and his host being the other.**" Fu was further stunned at that.

"**I know that there is no way for you to unlock the seal, so why should I act as though it is your fault? It is not. If anything, I cannot understand why you are not more resentful and hateful of me, as the majority of pain and suffering in your life is directly attributable to my being sealed inside of you.**"

Maybe she had been in the _very_ beginning, but she'd come to realize early on in their talks that he was as much a victim of circumstance as she was. In fact, it had probably been worse for him, as he had been free, and then was captured, traded around the shinobi nations like a commodity and weapon.

"**No. I prefer to make the most of this mutually undesirable situation. And that includes maintaining a good relationship with my host, of which you have been my favorite and most entertaining by far.**"

"**To answer your question, the best thing we can do is simply prepare. Continue training. Work with the other girl. Be ready for anything.**"

"A-Alright." Her mind couldn't think of anything more at that point.

Fu exited her mindscape in a daze, and just stared at her ceiling, trying to process the things she had learned. Why was her life getting so hard _now_? First Tayuya, and her sudden realization of her latent romantic interest in the girl, and now a possible threat that could end up killing her.

* * *

**A/N:**

Young Fu is so cute. Imagining her running around the playground was a great.

Whenever I write Chomei, I always imagine this really deep voice going "我々は…" (Wareware wa) at the start of sentences. It makes me giggle.

As always, please review!

* * *

**Translations:**

_Geta_: traditional Japanese wooden sandals worn when wearing kimono (such as during festivals). Jiraiya wears them all the time, as he seems to think it enhances his 'sage' image and kabuki introduction. They're an absolute killer on your arches if you're not used to them.

_Oni_: A Japanese demon, popular in myths and legends.


	7. Promises

**Disclaimer:**

Did characters of _Naruto_ ever have meaningful, constructive conversations about their deep-seated issues where things were resolved _without_ battle? (I'm looking at you, Gaara. And Obito. And Sasuke.) If not I don't own Naruto, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 7:**  
**Promises**

Tayuya hadn't expected to continue to working for Yamada after the festival, but he said that she was the best help he'd had in years, and since he had enough money, and nothing to do with it, she was welcome to continue working for him.

Their materials switched from wood to porcelain, and he began teaching her the basics of what went into the masks that the ANBU used. Things like how to make the special super-hydrophobic glaze and enamel used to ensure that the masks were completely waterproof. And how the inside was coated so that they would stay on the face properly (a weird chakra-reactive coating that left no residue on the skin).

Fu slowly seemed to loosen up again a couple days after the festival, and they resumed eating lunch together. But she always seemed to be a little bit on edge around Tayuya, and the redhead assumed it was because the other girl was unused to such constant close contact with another person. Not that Tayuya was any more experienced.

Tayuya was slow in improving her taijutsu, but had made leaps and bounds with her chakra manipulation. She could now create and maintain a few of those circular wind blades on various points of her body.

Shin had told her in a letter after that that she had reached the furthest point of the exercises he knew of. So she started improvising, working on things she found difficult. That had led to some… interesting (i.e. dangerous) experiments. She was now focusing on being able to pass the blades between arbitrary positions on her body. And that was _not_ easy. She still didn't have it down after two weeks, as each tenketsu needed to be worked. It was very time-consuming. Unlike the previous exercises, she got the feeling that this one would take her months to get down.

Another thing Tayuya had found (accidentally!) was that her healing was nearly universal. Receiving cuts from trying to pass the chakrams and needing to dodge had become common. Every time she was somehow injured, it was now closing up in seconds. Even the one time she almost cut her arm completely off. She was _really_ glad Fu hadn't been there for that.

There was little progress with the imitation Ice Release, which had involved her trying to freeze a cup of water. She was working with the assumption that Ice was formed by Water providing the 'base' and Wind providing a 'modification'. She'd _thought_ that if she already had the water, it would be easier. It really wasn't. After a week of frustration and wanting to pull her hair out, she'd swallowed her pride and taken Fu's suggestion to do some research at the library.

She'd found nothing on mixing chakra elements (which wasn't at all surprising in the civilian section), so she'd instead tried looking up how it worked naturally. It had been… enlightening. Going from a liquid to a solid at room temperature required a great deal more energy in cooling than going from a gas to a liquid. By a factor of hundreds.

Which had lead her to her current experiments: attempting to draw water from the air. Not with the Water element, which she could do already, but with only her Wind element, by cooling the surrounding area (acting as some sort of human dehumidifier).

It was a _lot_ harder than she had expected, and she had taken to attempting it whenever she could spare a little bit of focus. It made her clothes damp from the cloud of water vapor, but that was the only real side effect. Fu had laughed at her one morning after doing it their entire session because she looked like 'a drowned cat'.

Unlike Tayuya, Fu wasn't really trying to learn anything new, other than the hard taijutsu style, which was a matter of practice, and not exactly something she could rush through.

Tayuya was growing very fond of the green-haired girl. She'd become rather protective of Fu. Not in a physical sense, because Fu could more than deal with anybody in that way, but more just acting as an emotional pillar, a support. They'd discussed a bit of Fu's past a few times, but she never pushed for it, and let the girl bring it up on her own. Being that considerate was a very new experience for her.

Every so often she had caught the green-haired girl looking at her when she thought Tayuya wouldn't notice, especially recently, and she wondered what it was about. It didn't _bother_ her. It just… made her curious.

* * *

The days immediately after the festival, Fu had been hyper-aware of the redhead. She had almost skipped their morning training because the anxiety she felt towards facing the other girl after her unnerving revelations.

It hadn't been easy.

Having it brought to light that you subconsciously viewed another person as a romantic interest didn't exactly help when you saw them every day.

Their dynamic had changed following the festival, and Fu noticed Tayuya was making concerted effort to be open and understanding, but trying to do it in such a way that Fu wouldn't be offended. She truly appreciated that.

They always ate lunch with each other, Tayuya preparing two bentōs every day, with exacting precision. But it wasn't a sterile precision like a hospital. Rather, there was a sense of care and effort placed into them that made Fu feel safe. And she knew that this was one of the ways Tayuya could show how much she cared without saying it out loud. It wasn't a simple thing to make lunch for two people everyday before six. And she never complained about having to wash the boxes.

Their discussions had brought more and more of the redhead's history and personality to light. But Fu couldn't easily connect the rash, arrogant girl that she was told about with the figure in front of her.

It was both a contradiction and not. She could see remnants and hints lurking about, but they almost never surfaced around Fu.

Instead, Tayuya was humble, fully aware of her limitations in areas such as taijutsu. But she also refused to give up. Her focus and dedication to something she strove to accomplish was like a finely honed blade. And when she succeeded, the happiness and sense of accomplishment she expressed was well-deserved.

Fu always got caught up in what the other girl felt. Whenever Tayuya smiled, Fu felt a warmth blossom inside her chest. But at the same time, every time she moved, every time she talked, every time she looked at her, Fu wanted to run away. To escape. To withdraw. To deny it.

How she was constantly aware of the girl's position relative to her. How her eyes were drawn to her face, constantly noticing how it moved fluidly between emotions. Happiness. Frustration. Excitement. Annoyance. It was like watching the phases of the moon.

She had never realized before that Tayuya's eyes weren't black. They were brown. But it was a shade so dark, that under the shadow of the redhead's bangs, they looked like pitch. Both her nose and mouth were small, but it matched her facial structure well. Her lips were always in motion. Pursed when she was working. Bitten when she was troubled. Frowning when she was unsatisfied. Slightly smiling whenever she talked to Fu, only the very edges turned up.

_How had she never noticed?_

Tayuya was beautiful. Not just subjectively, either. Fu had seen the appreciative looks directed towards the redhead when they had been walking around the festival.

She had a deceptively delicate figure. In retrospect, Tayuya in her yukata seemed almost other-worldly, like she had stepped out of a painting.

After the fifth day of struggling and fighting for control with her emotions, Fu had given up. She wouldn't have been able to keep it up for another week, at the longest. It had been a losing battle.

And with that surrender, a sense of calm had settled on her.

She wondered if Tayuya had even noticed.

Now, whenever they said goodbye in the morning, there was always a twinge of longing and sadness in her chest. Even when she knew they were only going to be apart for few hours. There was a feeling of loss and emptiness, that was only repaired and filled by being in the presence of the other girl.

And whenever she saw the redhead again, she was always struck by how _beautiful_ Tayuya was. A sense of lightness and raw elation filled her chest, and she couldn't help but express it, even if it was only in minuscule amounts so as not to draw attention. It was all she could do to try and keep from being overwhelmed by the tsunami of emotions that were building up and cascading within her.

Fu didn't really know what she was feeling. Was this a crush? Or was this love? She hadn't _ever_ felt anything like this or this strongly before, and so she had no basis for comparison.

And she hadn't even noticed when it truly began. It had creeped up on her. But two weeks after the festival, she had been sure of it. It was undeniable. Only a two weeks after Tayuya had solidified their friendship, and she was overwhelmed.

When she had come to that conclusion, it brought forth a whole new wave of insecurity. What did Tayuya think of her? Obviously, as friends of some sort. But was that the full extent? What did Tayuya think of their relationship? How did she view it?

Fu had become extremely self-critical, always thinking about how she was acting in front of the redhead. She worried about how the other girl saw her. As someone who needed protection? Who needed care? As a teacher? As an adult or a child? A potential romantic interest?

Not knowing drove her anxiety to record highs.

She had had to stop thinking about it, for her sanity's sake. Otherwise, she would be obsessing over it constantly. Still, it cropped up every so often.

But why did she feel like this?

Was it Tayuya's speech? The small laugh she gave when she was amused? How she was completely blunt, and genuine to a fault? How despite her obvious discomfort and inexperience, she tried to be as available and accepting as possible? Or was it something baser, like her appearance, her body? Fu hoped she wasn't so shallow that it was only that.

She had caught herself fantasizing in daydreams more than a few times. About what it would feel like to be held by her. To be hugged. To be embraced. She wondered what Tayuya's lips tasted like. Were they that same paprika and sea salt? Or were they something different?

Her dreams had become filled with images of the girl. Some were platonic. And others were most definitely _not_. Being fifteen years old and hormonal was not helping in that regard. Tayuya had lit some spark within her that had grown into a wildfire, and Fu had consoled herself in solitude more than once with thoughts of the redhead.

It felt so _right_ being around her.

Fu reveled in that and the warmth she felt, but the sensation was always slightly tinged and soured by the whispered worries at the back of her mind. What would happen if Tayuya found out about Chomei?

What would happen _when_ she found out?

It wasn't a matter of possibility, but of time. And what if she found out how Fu felt about her, only to be disgusted and judgmental?

Whenever Fu considered Tayuya's reaction, her mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion: that Tayuya would leave, and she would be left all alone. Just like before. Just like her parents.

With those thoughts, her veins felt like they were frozen, glacial water trickling through them. Her spine became an icicle. But her chest felt like it was hollow.

The first time she had fixated on it, her worry and anxiety had been bad enough to make her hyperventilate, petrified until she had managed to break her mind away from the topic with sheer willpower.

She truly didn't know if she could ever return to the time before Tayuya came into her life.

And it scared her.

* * *

_(One month after the festival)_

"She _still_ doesn't know?"

Fu shook her head.

They sat in Sado's living room, since his apartment actually _had_ a living room. Fu was sitting on the couch, and Sado was on a simple squarish leather chair that looked deceptively uncomfortable. It actually felt like a cloud.

It was mid-afternoon, and she had come to visit Sado since she felt bad about almost neglecting him for the past few weeks. She had still gotten groceries, but they hadn't really talked at all.

"So why don't you tell her? You know that, sooner or later, she's going to find out anyways. And with the fact that the entire village knows, I wouldn't bet on later. I'm honestly surprised it's even lasted this long. It's been what? A month and a half now?" he asked.

Fu buried her face in her arms, which were crossed on the coffee table in front of her. "I know, I know. I keep putting it off. Whenever I'm around her, I'm afraid if I tell her, she'll just… leave. I don't want to have to face her after she finds out."

Sado gave her a pitying look. "She wouldn't do that. At least not based on what you've told me. Isn't that what you believe?"

Fu jerked her head off of the table."Yes, here!" Fu motioned at her head. "But not here!" She jabbed her chest, right over her heart.

This wasn't a matter of logic.

_Logically_, based on past and current evidence, and what she'd said herself, Tayuya wouldn't care. It would be a shock, sure, but at the end of the day they'd be fine.

Her poor, damaged _heart_, on the other hand didn't even _begin_ to understand that.

Her parents' betrayal had broken and scarred her on a level she hadn't even realized until recently. And she rebelled against ever considering trusting anyone that much again. And her relationship and trust with Sado had been built over _years_. It had been slow, hard work.

She'd only known Tayuya for a little over a month. And her feelings towards the girl were also _much_ more powerful than anything she had ever experienced.

"If she hates me, I don't think I could handle it." Fu said, melancholic.

She lifted herself up, drew her knees against her chest, and hugged her legs. If Tayuya actually abandoned her, Fu felt she might truly shatter. And nothing would be able to put her back together.

She chuckled darkly under her breath at the irony. Taki's greatest weapon, broken at the hands of a seventeen year-old girl. And the redhead didn't even have to do anything for that to happen.

Sado frowned. "Now you're just being melodramatic. It wouldn't be that bad. Losing a friend is hard, but you'll get through it."

Fu wanted to laugh. No, she had a feeling this would be the proverbial drop that caused the dam to break. But it was less of a drop and more of a lake.

She shook her head. "No. You don't understand."

"I don't understand what? I think I've got a pretty good grasp on the situation." he responded, slightly confused.

"Sado, I like her."

"Well, yeah, you guys are practically connected at the hip. I'd think that would be a requirement." He made it sound so innocent. And her thoughts recently had been anything _but_.

"No. Not like that." Fu hugged herself tighter. "I think I'm falling in love with her." she whispered, as if afraid saying it out loud would make it all the more true.

Sado blinked. "Oh. Is she aware of how you feel?" Fu almost started coughing.

"No, I don't think she's noticed. She's kind of oblivious." _Really, really oblivious._ "And I haven't said anything." she told him. Just another thing to worry about.

"Well that really complicates things, huh?" He leaned back his the chair, still looking at her.

"Yeah." she agreed, sighing. "And then what if she's fine with Chomei but doesn't accept my feelings?"

Fu had an impossible hope that Tayuya might grow to feel the same way, but she knew the chances of that happening were definitely _not_ in her favor. Having her feelings remain unrequited would be extremely painful, but her only option would be to suppress them because of how much she valued having the redhead as a friend.

Sado sat thinking for a moment before he responded. "I think you need to tell her about Chomei first. It would be a good test of how committed and open she is." She opened her mouth to respond, but he held up a hand, cutting her off. "If she takes that information well, you can start talking about her own feelings towards you once she's come to terms with your status as a jinchūriki. If you try and tell her both at the same time, you're going to overwhelm her. She'd probably withdraw in order to try and process, and she won't be thinking as clearly about either."

She knew he was right. It was the same conclusion she had come to. But she hadn't wanted to recognize it.

'_Chomei, what do you think? I know you've been awake this entire time._'

'**What you decide to do with Tayuya is of no concern to me, I have already given you counsel on the matter.**'

'_Come on, you know how important this is to me._' She heard a large sigh.

'**I think Sado's plan has merit. But ultimately, the decision lies with you.**' Chomei shifted around. He was going back to sleep now that he'd said his piece.

The worst that could happen was that everything would go back to how it was before Tayuya had stumbled into her life.

Except with her heart in a million tiny pieces.

_Yeah. __**Real**__ positive thoughts, Fu._ She shook her head.

"Alright then. Chomei first." she said, more to herself than anything.

She was happy that she had reached some conclusion. With her acceptance of the only possible path, she felt some of the metaphorical weight lift from her mind.

"Get it over with soon. The longer you put it off, the harder it's going to get." She nodded automatically at Sado, already trying to think of when she would try and talk to the redhead.

She didn't know if she could take the stress of waiting very long, now that the issue had been aired and decided. Maybe as soon as she got off of work. No. Maybe she could ask Tayuya if they could do dinner tonight. That would be better.

"Fu."

The seriousness of his tone drew her out of her thoughts. "What?"

"Just, if something happens, and you don't know what to do? I'm here. I don't want to be worrying about you." She almost brushed him off, but caught the sincerity in his eyes.

"Thank you. Really." she told him.

"You've grown up so much since I first saw you. It makes me proud." He smiled. "Be careful, okay?"

She nodded. "I will."

* * *

Fu put her chopsticks down on the wooden table, and tried to stop her fingers from fidgeting too much.

Now was the best time. She had to do it. She was so scared. But. She really couldn't continue with the lies of omission. Each day for the past week her guilt and anxiety had grown more and more in the back of her mind.

"I have something to tell you." Fu said as calmly as she could.

The room became deathly quiet.

Fu could actually hear the breeze blowing outside. The atmosphere was stifling.

Tayuya, sensing that this was something fairly serious, set her cup of tea down.

"Alright." She eyed the green-haired girl, and Fu suppressed her instinct to shrink away from the girl. "You aren't… like, dying or something, right?" Tayuya asked, her tone flat.

What?

"Pffttt" Fu couldn't stop herself from giggling at how absurd the question was. It was completely unexpected.

And just like that, the tension was gone. She really loved Tayuya. It was things like this that made her so fun to be around.

"What? It's a serious question!" The redhead sounded completely honest, and that just made it funnier. But Fu managed to stop herself.

"No, no. I'm not dying." she managed to say, the last of her laughter disappearing.

How had she come to _that_ leap in logic?

"Oh. Cause, the last time someone said that to me, they told me they were dying." Tayuya explained.

That sobered the jinchūriki up quickly. But the tight tension that had pervaded the room had still dissipated, and was no longer present.

Fu soldiered on, trying to think of what to say. "No. Nothing like that. I just… want to share something with you. That I thought you deserved to know."

Yeah. That was a good way of putting it. They were close enough now that sharing secrets didn't seem odd.

She closed her eyes and her hands curled into fists under the table. It was better just to say it straight and get it over with, like ripping off a bandage.

Fu took a breath. "I… I am the host of the seven-tailed kabutomushi. I'm a jinchūriki." she said softly.

Pieces in Tayuya's mind fell into place. Things that she had noticed. That she had picked up on, but hadn't pried into out of respect for Fu.

Oh, there were still a few odd things out. But a large majority of the incongruities and questions she'd had about Fu were answered. But those answers only brought more questions to the front of her mind.

Now the monikers of 'demon' and 'monster' made sense. The villagers, and their ignorance about things like sealing. The spiteful hatred she had seen Fu endure, day after day. The pain Tayuya had seen in her face the day of the festival, in that dark alley.

Fu winced, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She opened one eye, and tried to see Tayuya's reaction. Her face held an expression of shock. But none of the hatred or fear that Fu had prepared for, had obsessed over.

"That… that. Fucking hell. That must _suck_." Tayuya's expression shifted from shock to amazement. "Ho-How do you even _deal_ with something like that?" Fu didn't respond.

Tayuya's mind jumped to the first question she could think of, and she couldn't stop herself from blurting it out. "When?"

"Six. When I was six." Fu whispered, refusing to relax.

"And it's been like this ever since? This… village? The way they treat you?" Fu nodded. "And your parents?"

Fu's face lost even more color, but she refused to respond.

The silence said everything.

"I-Is this what you meant when you talked about being a monster before?"

Fu laughed in self-depreciation. "Among other things. Are you going to leave now? Now that you know?" she asked anxiously.

And just from that, Tayuya _knew_ that Fu had thought she was going to abandon her.

Like everyone else when they found out. Because that was all she had experienced.

It made her thoughts halt in a dead stop. _No wonder she put off telling me._

Tayuya's chest ached and twisted to see the normally bright girl in such a state. Her throat felt dry, and her mouth like it was full of cotton . "N-No."

_Let's try that again, without the stuttering. She deserves better than that._

Tayuya took a sip from her cooling tea. "No, I'm not going anywhere." She held up the bracelet that perpetually adorned her right wrist and jangled it, causing it to swing around pointing at the mate on Fu's wrist. "Friends, remember?"

Fu laughed and sniffled, but nodded.

Tayuya could see hints of moisture in the girl's eyes. She wished there was something she could do, but she wasn't exactly prepared or experienced with this sort of thing.

Fu took a breath, seeming to slowly accept that Tayuya wasn't going anywhere, but still very on edge. "The first week, I killed another kid by accident."

_Holy shit. When she was __**six**__?_

"I _literally_ didn't know my own strength. And according to records, I adapted much quicker to the foreign chakra than previous hosts. It was an accident. But it also set a bunch of things in motion."

The redhead simply sat there, listening, trying to get a better picture of what that must have been like.

"My hair and eyes used to be brown." Fu told her.

Tayuya struggled to imagine it. It didn't seem… right. At all. The bright green and orange were like reflections of her personality. Anything else would be almost sacrilege in comparison.

"They changed because of the sealing. That was unprecedented. It had never happened before. And because of that, my _parents_" she spat the word venomously. "reached the conclusion that my soul departed during the sealing. That I was now just a _demon_, in human skin, pretending to be their daughter. Secretly plotting against them and the village. That the boy was my first victim and was proof that I was out for blood. _Nothing_ could change their minds. They 'informed' the rest of the civilians. Kids grew up hearing stories about me. To them, I truly am a '_monster_'. A nightmare who only _looks_ like a girl."

That had to be terrible. No wonder she had so many issues with abandonment.

Tayuya didn't know her parents, and hated them for feeling like they had just left her. But between having no memory of them, and having them discard you and be the reason you were vilified for the rest of your life? She'd easily choose no memory.

That kind of psychological scarring didn't go away. Ever.

"Is that why you reacted like that in the alley? That name?" she asked.

Fu shook her head. "No. My father was there. He was the one who said that." Holy **fuck**. "I _thought_ I was over it. I _thought_ I didn't care about them anymore. I was very, very wrong."

She laughed darkly again. Tayuya didn't like it. It sounded nothing like her other laugh. It was so wrong hearing it come from her.

"And you know the _really_ sad thing? He isn't even a demon. Chomei is _harmless_." Tayuya's eyebrows rose. She was on a first name basis with it? "Nobody takes the time to get to know their side of the story."

Fu turned her head to Tayuya. "Did you know, they were originally meant to live peacefully?" Tayuya shook her head. She'd never heard much about the tailed beasts except that they were huge, and powerful beyond imagination. "Hashirama Senju, the founder of Konoha, _decided_ that they were too powerful for their own good. And distributed them between the nations like batteries, to be used as a deterrent for war." she snorted. "You can see how well _that_ worked."

Fu had learned about that from Chomei last week. They'd started talking more about the history of the bijū, and about the Sage, their creator.

"Sorry. That's not relevant."

Tayuya actually didn't mind. The last bits were pretty interesting.

"I-I want to show you something."

Fu lifted up the bottom edge of her shirt and mesh carbon armor, exposing more of her torso and butterscotch-color skin.

At the base of her ribcage sat something that looked like a tattoo of an upside-down triangle made out of kanji, the sides spaced apart to make three gaps at the corners. The bottom gap pointed directly towards her navel.

"This is the Three Walls Seal. It's what holds Chomei. It's designed to mix his chakra with mine, at a constant rate. And it's permanent. Impossible to remove. So even if I _wanted_ to let him go, I couldn't. Taki is very careful about their giant battery." She let her shirt and armor fall down. "I-I know this is a lot to take in. But I just needed to tell you. To get it off my chest."

Tayuya nodded. It had been the same with her and Shin and Yomi. And this was no small confession. She had had the benefit of talking to virtual strangers, who she wasn't attached to. But Fu had become a close friend, and _then_ told her. She could see how that would be nerve-wracking

But now she knew why Fu had been so cautious. So _guarded_. Why she didn't have any other friends. Why she had become so attached so quickly to Tayuya. They had both needed someone to trust. Someone to talk to. Someone to share with.

Tayuya needed this relationship for the emotional support and connection. But she got that in the day-to-day things they did together. Just being close to someone.

Fu clearly needed a lot more.

She needed someone who would _stay_. Who would _care_. Who would be by her side _unconditionally_ and prove that her fears of abandonment were baseless.

It was more than a little daunting. She didn't know if she could fill that role to a degree that would satisfy the girl. But she also knew what would happen if she backed out at this point.

Fu would be heartbroken.

It was obvious even to her, evident in the girl's actions and the level of caution she was using, things that Tayuya was only able to detect because they had spent so much time together.

With the emotional and psychological scarring she already had, Tayuya's rejection had the potential of pushing her past a breaking point. She could see that her friendship meant a _lot_ to the green haired girl if she was willing to go this far.

So she'd just have to try.

She hoped she could. For Fu's sake.

Tayuya debated whether she should tell Fu about her own seal. The other girl had just taken a tremendous leap of faith, blindly hoping against her conditioned fears and doubts that Tayuya wouldn't desert her. In comparison, her seal seemed trivial and minor. But it was the thought that counted, and it would distract Fu at the same time.

"I've got something to tell you, too." she voiced.

Fu perked up a bit at that. Tayuya was pleased that the girl seemed to be regaining a little of her color and normal demeanor.

"It's nothing like what you told me. But, it _is_ something I've been keeping to myself."

Fu's expression became quizzical, but also worried.

"I'm pretty sure I know why I can heal. I told you how it was a recent thing. But there's something else." Tayuya took a breath. What was the best way to start? Probably at the beginning. "I died. I know I did. I was in a fight, I lost, and I died because I was on the wrong side."

Fu's mouth gaped. "B-But. You're here."

Tayuya nodded. "Somehow, I got a second chance. I don't know how. Or why. But I decided I was going to change. Completely."

It was the jinchūriki's turn to sit back and listen.

"Before that, I was sad, angry, and lonely. I kept everyone at arms reach, making sure that no would be able to hurt me. You know how I said I was Sound Ninja?" Fu nodded. "I was one of Orochimaru's personal guards. Not just a member, but a fucking _elite_. And the cunt doesn't let his toys go. _Ever_."

Tayuya rolled her cup of now-cold tea between her hands.

"He was obsessed with the Uchiha clan. The bastard's main ambition was to 'learn all ninjutsu'. I didn't realize how fucking stupid that was until a few weeks ago. Ninjutsu are constantly being created. The Uchiha's Sharingan was supposed to let him do that. He became obsessed with the last Uchiha in Konoha. He applied a curse seal on the kid, to warp his mind. I had one too. Right here." She pulled back her hair and pointed to the spot on the back of her neck where it had been.

"It contains a number of things that alter your mental patterns." Tayuya counted them off on her fingers. "Ensure loyalty. Suppress higher-level thought. Sabotage logic and reasoning. All wrapped in a pretty package that was addicting to use, and gave you a hell of a boost in power. And it's impossible to remove, tangled in your chakra network."

She sighed. "It gave me the worst fucking headaches afterwards. While it was on me, I was too fucked in the head to care. But I still avoided using the goddamn thing."

Tayuya tried to remember where in the story she was.

_Oh, right._

"So _we_, his personal guards, the 'Sound Four' were sent to collect the fucking pansy, who couldn't even get to Rice on his own. We got into the damn village. We told the kid we were there to take him back. We waited. He shows up. But _somebody_ fucked up, because Konoha found out. We weren't two hours out when we had to take a break from running. The kid was complete dead weight. He was sealed in a barrel, which is how you get the curse seal to advance stages. And then six brats show up. So one of us stays behind to deal with the goddamn runts.

"We keep going. They show up again, but one less. So we have another guy stay behind to deal with them. It was looking like we were getting shafted at that point. We were down to half the fucking team. Then they show up _again_. Except _this_ time, they're damn shadow clones. A real one pops up and traps me with his shadow. The kids get the barrel. But the last guy besides me takes one of the kids over a cliff with him. And then Orochimaru's personal puppet shows up. You know clans and bloodlines, right?"

Fu nodded. It was kind of a hobby of hers, being well informed.

"Kimimaro was a Kaguya with the Shikotsumyaku." The blood drained comically from the green-haired girl's face.

"Yeah. _Exactly_. He threatens me, tells me to kill the two brats. One of them slips past me. I get ready to fight. But something the asshole I'm going to fight says gets to me. He talked about trust.

"You have to understand, up until then I didn't trust _anyone_. Not even the fucking snake. I admired him. Looked up to him. Hell, hero-worshiped him. But I _never_ trusted him. I went with him because it was the best alternative to a shit life. So what the kid said got to me, before I could get ready to fight. Long story short, I acted like an arrogant bitch when I had the upper hand and let my emotions sabotage me. I had the bastard on the ropes. And I let my guard down. This chick from Sand with a giant fan shows up. Completely negates my genjutsu, and slices my flute up at the same time."

Tayuya shook her head. "That's what made me realize I was too goddamn dependent on my flute. If someone could take me out that easily, I was doing something wrong. One more move, and she slices the entire fucking forest to lumber, blowing them around like twigs."

She turned to look at Fu.

"I saw my life flashing in front of my eyes as those giant pieces of wood were flying at me. I _knew_ I wasn't going to live. There was no way. The last thing I remember from that is darkness. And then I just… woke up. Like nothing was fucking wrong. As if I had just fallen asleep for a few hours. Except my entire lower half had been smushed like a pancake." Fu wrinkled her nose at the imagery.

"So I'm stuck under these trees, and I try to use the curse seal to get out. Except it's just _gone_. Like it was never there. I started freaking out at that point. My mind wasn't used to not being pressured by the seal. So I start trying to fight off seven years of brainwashing and conditioning. That… was not fun."

Fu noticed that Tayuya had stopped cursing for the most part. Was it just a remnant of her past, linked to her time with Orochimaru? Is that why she had fluctuated between a calm and considerate, and abrasive and foul-mouthed? Because of her memories?

"After a few bad starts, I end up thinking that if I was out from under the snake's thumb, I should make the best of it and get going while the going was good. He would assume we all died, and I would get a new chance at life. Except I've still got these logs on my lap. So I decide to do it the old-fashioned way, and reinforce my limbs a bit in order to get them off. Nothing like what _you_ can do, but enough for a couple seconds.

"So I lift the logs off of my legs. And they're _gone_. Like, disintegrated. I could literally see my bone marrow and stuff." Fu looked a little green at that, and Tayuya became apologetic. "Ah, sorry. Being around the snake desensitizes you to that kind of shit. I always thought biology was cool. Anyways. A couple seconds pass, and my legs fly back together. Perfectly. Like nothing was wrong. I'm still in enemy territory, and I decide to deal with it later. So I run. From near the Valley of the End all the way to Se-shi. My pants were ripped so I got a new pair. And then I went looking for a place to stay."

Tayuya leaned back, holding herself up with her palms and looking up at the ceiling.

"I found this place. Run by Shin and Yomi. I've told you a bit about them. They dragged me inside, and put me up for the night. They knew I was a ninja from the start, but didn't call me out on it until the next day. I ended up spilling my guts. All the shit I had gone through with Orochimaru had taken its toll, I was just too brainwashed and proud to admit it. It was the first time I was able to talk to anyone else about how I felt. And they _listened_. You know how _good_ that feels?"

Fu nodded. She did. Sado did that for her.

Tayuya looked at her. "I felt _weightless_ after that. All the stuff that had been bothering me was suddenly not as much of a big deal. Shin helped me get my job here and taught me nature transformation , and Yomi's the one who got me cooking." Fu made a mental note to thank the woman as much as possible when she had the chance.

"The only weird thing was, the second day I was there, I found _this_."

Tayuya unzipped her red top half-way, and pulled down the stretchy materials that made up her mesh undershirt and breast wraps.

"It's some kind of seal. And it hadn't been there before I died. You know how I told you, whenever I heal, there's a minimal chakra drain?" Fu made an affirmative sound. "I'm pretty sure it's going here."

Fu leaned in to take a closer look. It looked strange. Like no other seal she'd ever seen. Not that she'd seen very many, but stiil. Shaped like a criss-crossed knot with hard right angles. It appeared _completely_ solid until you got really close. And then she could make out smaller shapes. But their size was so tiny. And the entire seal felt out of place.

'_Chomei, have you ever seen anything like this?_'

'**Hm?**'

'_This seal on Tayuya's chest. It's… strange_'

Chomei took a moment to access her senses. "**Never. I have not had the opportunity to study the art of human sealing, but it looks and feels almost unnatural.**"

'_Yeah, that's the sense I get too. Unnatural._'

Tayuya let her bindings and undershirt snap back into place, and then zipped her top up.

"Chomei and I think it's unnatural." Tayuya grew a little curious at the mention of the bijū, but decided to put it off for later.

"Yeah. That's what I thought. I had to get a magnifying glass to look any closer, and it's almost creepy perfect. Like it was printed or something, not handwritten. And I also get this weird feeling that I _need_ it."

"You… probably shouldn't mess with it then." Fu told her.

Gut feelings like that were things you should trust. Especially as a ninja. They usually ended up saving your life.

"Yeah. But I still want to know what the hell it's doing. It's just weird. Who the fuck put it there? Why?"

That was the billion-ryo question. Why? Why was Tayuya still alive? Why was she able to heal? Why did she have the ability to manipulate chakra like it was nothing?

It stumped her.

And she _really_ did not like not knowing what was going on.

But there wasn't exactly anything she could do about it. She didn't know any seal masters. Other than Jiraiya. And that did not seem like a good idea, considering her role in the death of the Hokage, his former _sensei_. He'd probably be willing to try and find out how to disable her healing just to kill her.

Not to mention he was usually nowhere to be found. She'd heard of his indulgences and quirks. He was infamous as a womanizer. But she didn't want to go looking for trouble.

"So what're you going to do?"

Tayuya brought her attention back to Fu. "What do you mean?"

"What are your planning on doing?" Fu clarified.

"I don't know. Probably keep working for a while. Until I've got some money saved up." Tayuya answered.

"A-And then?"

Tayuya realized that she had been thinking of leaving Taki. But Fu was important to her. And since she had taken on the role of being with her no matter what, that would probably never happen.

Urgh. Caring about someone this much was tricky. Something completely new and different.

"Don't worry about it." Tayuya gave Fu a warm smile. "I don't really think that far ahead."

* * *

**A/N:**

Oh man. Drama. As much as I like writing, these huge important scenes really take the wind out of my sails. It's hard to balance everything well.

Fu is definitely crushing hard. But then again, it's her first time. And she's _fifteen_. I don't know about you, but when I was fifteen, I could feel strongly about someone in less than a week of knowing them. It was not fun. /sigh. Puberty.

But! Progress for our two heroines.

Tayuya is getting an idea of the depth of Fu's insecurities, which is a pretty big deal. Since it's like the freaking Marianas Trench.

Fu's not exactly well-adjusted …not that Tayuya can point any fingers.

It's no fun if your characters aren't screwed up in some way.


	8. A Name, A Clan, A Family

**Warning:**

Please don't read this chapter if you're sensitive to graphic depictions of war crimes or physical injury. I don't want to be responsible for triggering anyone. Just skip to the end and scroll back to the beginning of the last scene. That should be enough to make it so you're not completely lost.

**Disclaimer:**

Were Mito, Kushina, Minato, and Jiraiya the _only_ people mentioned as truly proficient in advanced sealing techniques, who were all Leaf-nin? If so, I don't own Naruto, nor the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 8:**  
**A Name, A Clan, A Family**

Another month passed after Fu divulged to Tayuya her history. The two kept practicing taijutsu in the morning, and eating lunch together around noon.

Tayuya had finally made some progress with her Ice training . She managed to condense the air into actual water vapor around her, and now that she had the feel for what needed to be done, freezing pre-existing or created water was now almost simple in comparison. But she couldn't manipulate it. It just… froze. And sat there. So she started attempting to 'grow' the ice in a direction, actually working with the ice itself through a combined use of her elements, actually mixing the two type of chakra and trying to find the needed balance. It was not easy. She had only managed a half an inch nub from the little bowl of water (now ice) that she using for practice.

But after a full two months of work, she _had_ perfected passing around her chakrams, and was extremely proud of her accomplishment. She could now move multiple rings of the compressed, spinning air simultaneously around her body, levitating half an inch away from her.

There was a certain thrill to having invisible various-sized rings of death humming over your skin and bones, circulating around your body like blood, and knowing that the simplest loss in control could mean certain death or dismemberment. This kind of technique really couldn't be learned or completed unless you either had truly perfect control, beyond even Tayuya's current point… or if you could heal really, _really_ fast. Which she could. It was the only reason she had been able to develop it this far.

Tayuya would easily admit that Fu was the closest she had ever been to someone. And she really didn't know what that entailed. They were friends. But they also spent a _lot_ of time together. She avoided thinking about it, and just enjoyed spending time with the girl.

But after that month, things changed.

* * *

Tayuya was woken at midnight by a distinct 'poof'. She was instantly awake, having recognized the sound of a summons. She'd used her dokis enough to know _exactly_ what it was like.

Had Orochimaru finally found out about her? Had he sent one of his snake summons to off her in the middle of the night, leaving only a bite as evidence? She didn't wear anything other than her underwear and a shirt at night, which didn't exactly afford any material protection to her skin. A snake's fangs could easily penetrate fabric, and she'd seen a few of his summons which could bite through plate steel. If this really was a surprise retaliatory attack, she was dead.

She bolted out of bed, throwing the thin white cotton sheets off as she jumped away from where she was. A solid 'ker-thunk' echoed around the plaster walls of the room, coming from the bare wooden floor by the edge she had just jumped from. That did _not_ sound like a snake. It sounded almost like…

She squinted in the direction the noise had come from. The blinds of the room were closed, and she was on the opposite side of the room, so there was almost no ambient light. But she could could faintly make out a blurry rectangular shape in the darkness. Being very cautious, she inched towards it, sliding her feet over the floor. By the point where she was within two feet of it, she could see what it was. A book. A fairly large one. Or least that's what it looked like.

_Where the fuck did that come from?_

She eyed the object warily, and decided that indirect contact would probably be best. There was no telling what would happen if she touched it directly. Temporarily mollified, she walked around the queen-size bed towards the short wooden dresser that sat in the other corner of the room. Rummaging around in one of the top drawers, she finally found what she wanted: a tube sock.

Closing the drawer, she moved back around to the other side of the bed, slipping the sock onto her left hand in the process. Squatting down in front of it, she poked the cover of the book with the sock. Satisfied that it didn't pose an _immediate_ risk to her, she attempted to pick it up using the same hand. Picking up that book with a single hand that was covered in a sock was deceivingly difficult. It kept trying to slip from between her grip like butter.

Once she managed it, she quickly dropped it onto the bed (it actually slipped) before turning to the bedside table at her left and pulling the draw-string on the lamp to turn it on.

She froze at the sight in front of her eyes, disbelieving her own senses.

_Gods fucking damn it. What the __**hell**__ is with all these seals appearing on my body?_ she thought in frustrated exasperation.

It was definitely not normal.

The back of her right hand held a circular pattern of characters on it that she recognized as similar to a standard storage seal. But this one appeared much more complicated than an average storage seal, characters twisting and turning, multiple arms converging on a central point like a vortex. She glared at the book on her bed, almost wishing she could ignite it just through sight. She didn't _need_ any new surprises in her life. She had enough shit on her plate right now, between the seal on her chest, her job with Yamada, and her deepening connection with Fu.

The book was featureless, except for an odd spiral imprinted on the front that reminded her of the one that she had just seen on her hand, and the cover appeared to be made of plain brown leather. Touching it cautiously with a bare finger, she concluded it was probably safe since there was no immediate reaction. Like a genjutsu trap. Or corroding her skin with acid.

Removing the sock from her hand, Tayuya sat down on the edge of her bed and pulled the book onto her bare thighs, shivering slightly from the coolness of the supple leather.

She hesitantly opened the cover. The first pages, the ones that were usually left blank, were covered in writing. Lines of small characters were arranged perfectly, and each was spaced exactly the same width apart. But there was no doubt they were handwritten. But it had been done by someone extremely skilled in calligraphy, at a level that took a lifetime to master.

It was beautiful, with flourishes and strokes that were efficient, conservative, and stylistic. The dark black ink of the characters subtly reflected the yellow light from the lamp at her side and contrasted the bleached white of the page it sat on. It briefly captivated her as if it was a work of art in a museum.

Drawing her eyes up to the top of the page, she started reading.

'_Dearest Tayuya. My name is Shu, and I am your father._'

She halted in her tracks, a bubble of unadulterated rage bursting and spreading from the center of her chest, causing her blood to boil.

What the _fuck_ was this!? Was it a trick? This thing suddenly appears out of a hidden seal on her hand, and the writer tells her he's his _father_!?

Her mind ground to a standstill as the room around her warped like a fish-eye lens, red shades clouding over her vision.

Where had he been while she was on the streets? Where had he been when Orochimaru had conscripted her? _Where had he been when she __**died**__ !?_

She violently fought the impulse to throw the book away from her as quickly as possible and incinerate it, destroying all remnants of its existence. She hadn't needed her parents before now, and she sure as hell didn't need them now.

A single thought of lucidity lanced through her seething mind.

But. Butbutbutbutbut it whispered. This could hold answers. Answers to questions you've had for years.

Those words snapped her out of her haze. If this really was her father, which she held reservations about, she wanted answers. She wanted to know if her years anger and bitterness was justified. And destroying the only link she had would not assist in that endeavor.

She took a few breaths, and her eyesight gradually shifted back to normal. But the explosion of animosity still lingered at the forefront of her mind. Tayuya turned back to the page and noted that she was gripping the book with so much pressure that not only her knuckles, but her entire hands were white. Forcibly relaxing her grip, she started reading again.

'_Dearest Tayuya. My name is Shu, and I am your father. If you are reading this, then it means that it has been 11 years since I last saw you, and that you turned eighteen today._'

Her mind shuddered to a halt again. But this time, the anger was wiped from her mind and replaced with a sense of shock.

She had never known her birthday. She had only ever known her age and her first name. Seventeen. Tayuya.

But according to this, today was her birthday. The day she was born. Eighteen years ago. Today she was eighteen.

Hands shaking, she moved backwards on her bed, inching up the covers to the backboard. Leaning against the pillows, she drew her legs up and placed the book back onto her thighs, the leather cover now matching her body temperature.

'_Unfortunately, I will not be able to celebrate it with you, as I will no longer be alive. For that, I apologize and beg your forgiveness._'

Her brain was quickly becoming numb from all of the unexpected information. His reason for his absence (death) explained a great deal (and it was something she had suspected), but it still didn't explain why she couldn't remember anything. Or _why_ he was dead. And why she was only learning this when she was eighteen. All of these things would have been _really_ great to know earlier in her life.

'_I chose to wait this long in the hopes that you would be mature enough to understand my decisions and actions. Why I did the things I did. Why I can only hold myself to blame._

Well, that question got answered quickly. But her mind was torn in two directions by the response. She wanted to hate this man, the man who said he was her father, for not disclosing these things earlier. That was her childish side.

Her (admittedly new and still developing) more sympathetic and mature side could understand his decision to wait. Children and teenagers were prone to extremely rash and possibly dangerous decisions. They also were very self-centered and she more than likely would have struggled to comprehend why he had left her alone in the world, and would have become very resentful and bitter about it. Much like she had. Except much worse.

'_For the first few years of your life we were extremely happy. A loving family. But then your mother, my wife Akiha, passed away, just before your fifth birthday._'

So that must be why he was the only one writing. Eleven years ago, she would have been seven. How old had her mother been when she died? How old would she have been now, if she hadn't?

The questions that floated into her mind were slowing as she resigned herself to reading the entire thing through.

'_She died from an incurable illness that quickly destroyed her cells and ate away at her from the inside, causing her death in less than a week. I tried everything I could do to convince her to let me put her under a seal so we could find some way to save her. But Akiha refused, saying that she would not fight what she truly knew was a losing battle, that it would only make it that much harder to let go of her once she inevitably died. A week later, you went to her bed to talk to her, and came to me asking why Mama was so cold and wouldn't wake up._'

A wave of harsh sadness and pity washed over Tayuya. She could only imagine how heart-rending that must have been to experience. She was glad she couldn't remember something like that. It would only bring nightmares and trauma.

'_Despite what she had intended, I felt worse about her passing, thinking there must have been something I could have done, but that now it was too late. I became inconsolable and depressed, throwing myself into my work and research to distract myself from the pain of losing the woman I had known and loved for twenty years. And because of that, because of my inability to move past the pain, I ended up neglecting you. It was my duty as a father to care for you. And I failed._

This explained why she needed to be eighteen. She knew by now that _everyone_ had flaws and made mistakes. But at eight or nine, she wouldn't have been able to comprehend someone like her father failing in such an important way, especially if they had been as good a family as he had implied.

'_I was a sealer. An Uzumaki. The last of the true Uzumaki seal masters. Trained by one of the clan council heads himself. Sealing is in our blood. Your blood, Tayuya Uzumaki._'

It resonated within her, and Tayuya's own blood thrummed through her veins like her very soul was singing in exaltation at the knowledge and recognition of her own identity.

Uzumaki. Tayuya Uzumaki. She had a family name. A clan name.

But she had never heard of them. Did that mean they were gone? Or just hidden? She couldn't help but feel slightly resentful at the idea that she might have been able to live with true family after she lost her memory, instead of on the streets.

'_I was fifteen when an alliance of enemy nations came to destroy our island, nearing the end of my apprenticeship._'

Destroy.

That was the word her eyes got stuck on.

By estimation, that was around the time of the Second Shinobi War. But she couldn't remember anything about an island being destroyed. Nothing that she had ever read had ever mentioned anything about something like that. If it had been large, wouldn't it have been recorded? Or would all records have been destroyed too?

'_My master had seen the growing tension and fear, and saw that there would be an attack. The other council members assured him we would win, just as we always had, and ignored his attempts to make plans in case we didn't. Our confidence had become arrogance. But he refused to let our legacy die. Refused to see it fall. Refused, even in the face of utter destruction, so he and I began to plan in secret._

'_But we were not prepared for them to attack so soon. They came in the middle of the night. It was a surprise attack to all of us, and we were caught off-guard. And their troops were greater than we had ever imagined._'

So the attackers had managed to overrun them through sheer numbers. Numbers was a valid tactic. And only the most powerful shinobi could face an army with far fewer numbers and come out victorious. Shinobi like the Sannin. One-in-a-million.

'_When I heard that invaders had landed, I ran to the sealing hall where I knew he would be, trying to carry out his plan to his dying breath. He refused to accept our fate of destruction. So we hurried to complete the plan we had constructed, the two of us the only ones in the building. All of the other sealers were fighting the enemy alongside our warriors, as we should have been instead of abandoning our duty, but nobody had even considered the sealing hall. About what might happen if they failed. And they did._'

'_Uzu was besieged for six hours before it fell. But in six hours, my master and I had finished. We had managed to collect everything. Entire bookcases from the sealing hall's library. The forbidden scrolls of kinjutsu in the basement vaults. Our history from the archives. All of my master's notes. We even went so far as to raid the other masters_'_ offices, stealing their research. Trying as hard as we could, to preserve everything. To save it all. All these things were sealed into a scroll, nearly as tall and thick as I was.'_

Her mind boggled at that, and tried to imagine a scroll the size of an average fifteen year-old-boy. That was _huge_. She didn't know much about sealing scrolls, but even Orochimaru's snake summons contract wasn't that large. But if they had really managed to save an entire _library_, a clan's archives, and scrolls of kinjutsu, it just might have been needed. But that size bordered on sheer ridiculousness, not to mention it would be impossible to carry.

'_By then, the enemy had broken through our defenses, killing everyone in their path. They advanced on the sealing hall, intent on destroying our clan's heritage completely. My master hastily wrote special a storage seal on the back of my hand, and then sealed the large scroll inside of it. I tried to stop him, to tell him he should be the one to carry it as had been the plan, but he denied my protests as the seal sunk below my skin._'

'_He said to me _"_Shu. You must carry on. You must survive. For if you do not, our clan's very history, our very soul dies here today. You must persevere. This is my final order as your teacher._"

Tayuya paused. That would be a lot of pressure for a fifteen year-old. Shouldering an entire clan's techniques and being told that you needed to live or everything would be for nothing?

'_He pushed me in the direction of the back entrance, telling me to run as the enemy ninja entered the building, that he would hold them off while I escaped and lived on. I couldn't look back. But I still heard the muffled shouts and cries of pain, and could only pray that they were not from him._

How hard must it have been, to abandon the person who had been his mentor? Knowing that the man was walking to his death, to protect him. But it was also to protect their culture, and their history.

'_So I ran away from the hall. I ran and I ran. I ran past bodies, littering the streets. My own kinsmen. My own family. Our blood flowed like rainwater on the roads._'

Tayuya was traumatized simply by her experiences with the blood purges in Kiri, and she had to pause for a moment to push the rising memories back. But he had seen this done to his own _family_. People he would have known for years and easily recognized.

He must have either been extremely strong-willed, or had become overloaded from the emotions and closed them off, focusing on the only thing that could distract him and keep him sane: the task he had been given. She was beginning to respect him despite her lingering bitterness about her lack of a normal childhood, one where he had supposedly ended up neglecting her.

'_I ran until I reached the south coast of the island, opposite from where the invaders had landed, sick from the exhaustion. There were emergency evacuation boats, with civilians in them. They had only decided to abandon the island once the invaders had broken through our front lines. I was able to reach them before the one of last sets of three launched, joining one of the small craft before they departed._'

'_The invaders had made landfall from the Land of Hot Water. We aimed for Fire Country, in the direction of Konoha, with which we were allied. The sea was cold, the only light coming from the raging fires of the burning buildings on the island._'

It must have all happened to quickly for Konoha to respond or assist, if what he was describing was any indicator. He made it sound like the attackers had overrun the island in less than half a day.

'_We nearly made it, the shore less than two hundred meters away, but enemy ship were waiting to destroy us, the surrounding waters littered with the wreckage of the boats that had left before us. A water user performed a technique that raised a twenty foot wave, laughing from above us as our boat was destroyed. He killed us lazily as we bobbed in the water, our life preservers holding us afloat and making us easy targets. I managed to slip out of mine, and tried to swim in the direction of the shore. It was in sight. But I was already exhausted, and I slipped beneath the waves into darkness, resigned to my fate of having failed my master within hours._

'_This is what genocide looks like. Where one side is the aggressor, and the other defends hopelessly, only to be wiped out completely. Nobody spared. Senseless slaughter, where even the blood of women and children is spilled. All in the name of cleansing the world of our name and our abilities._'

Tayuya felt sick, and had to stop reading, flashbacks of Kiri coming to the forefront of her mind. The smell of rust from drying blood splattered on the walls. The corpses filled with maggots and buzzing with flies. The rotting stench of flesh. A baby crying for its mother who had been killed seconds before, only to be killed itself in her arms. Watching someone who had no defense be killed, only because they were alive.

She tried to drag herself out of the memories, focusing on other things. The first thing that came to her mind was Fu, and she forced herself to embrace it, to remember every detail, blotting everything else in her mind out. How they had met, the training they done, the festival where they had solidified their friendship, the lunches they had shared, Fu's confession of what she was, and Tayuya's own subsequent admission. How Fu somehow always managed to make her feel better, no matter what mood she was in.

The flashbacks began to subside, but she kept up her positive thoughts, thinking about the green-haired girl until the horrific recollections were completely gone.

It felt like it took forever.

Once she was finally calm, the shaking stopped, and only cold sweat remaining on her body, she looked back at the book, forcing her eyes to not look at those words, to read the next paragraph, in hopes that it would distract her from anything else that could trigger another episode.

'_When I awoke, two days later, it was to the most beautiful face I had ever seen. Your mother was stunning even at fourteen._'

'_She had been traveling with her father through the Land of Fire. And upon hearing news of Uzu's imminent destruction, they had hurried to return, only to see a dead city, burning and crumbling. They found me half-dead on the shore, and carried me inland, away from the smoking ruins and remains of the island. Away from my birthplace. My world. My home._'

'_They were members of the Yakin, one of the minor clans on Uzushio. They had excelled in crafting blades. They were exceptionally skilled in Yin release even though they were not a ninja clan, and they were able to use that skill to shape a weapon specifically for the intended wielder. Because of this, their blades were highly sought-after and considered works of art, despite being, or perhaps because they were, truly lethal tools of war._'

Was that where she had gotten her natural talent in Yin chakra manipulation? From her mother? If they were as inherently skilled as she was at it, Tayuya could understand why they wouldn't have to be ninja in order to mold chakra or utilize it.

'_The Uzumaki warriors traditionally trained in ken-do, the way of the sword. The presence of the Yakin clan had only served to make us more feared. We had our seals. We had our blades. We were ruthless. And we were a threat. It was this conclusion that led the countries to form an alliance and decide that we were better off destroyed than left be._'

The little hope she had lost became anger. Anger towards the villages that had stolen her chance at a normal life. Anger towards the Kages who had made the decision. Anger towards the ninja who had participated in the systematic killing of her family, her clans.

It was the first time she felt the effects of the Shinobi Wars first-hand, and she was torn between rage and resignation. Rage because it could have been different. Resignation because it was in the past. There was nothing that could be done now.

'_Akiha's father was considered one of the better smiths in Uzushio and he was occasionally commissioned to craft a blade for someone on the mainland. Usually a higher ranking noble, or a skilled shinobi from an allied village. He and his daughter had been returning from delivering a blade to a noble in Otafuki Gai when rumors of the attack reached them. But they had come too late._'

She couldn't even imagine what it would be like returning home, only to find everything a smoking crater. Everyone you knew dead. Your entire life, just… gone.

She had never had a place to call 'home'. She had never had 'family'. Even though she had always wished for both, she had never had (or could not remember having, as the case seemed to be) either one. So even the idea of losing those things was alien. But she could understand the kind of pain that loss would cause. The aftereffects it might have.

'_We fled, traveling through Fire Country towards Iron. Iron was neutral to the shinobi wars, and as neither Akiha, her father, nor I were actually ninja, it was deemed to be the safest option. We traveled for a week, making haste. I concealed my red hair, the trademark of the Uzumaki that you inherited, dirtying it with mud while we traveled so that it appeared brown._'

Tayuya pulled some of her hair around to the front of her face. She had never thought of the color as important before, just another shade. But he was saying it was a symbol. One that marked a person as a member of the clan. One that she had inherited. And that helped her believe that all of this might actually be real, despite how it felt like some kind of fantastic tale. Now that she thought about it, she had seen very few people with red hair, much less with the exact same shade as her. Was it really so uncommon that it could be used as an immediate identifier?

'_I was in such shock that I did not even think about my parents or my older brother Ichirou until the second day I was awake. The sealing hall had been on the far south end of Uzu, so I had been living on my own in an apartment closer to it for my apprenticeship. But they had been on the northern coast, the side of the island where the invaders had made landfall. And so I knew with horrific certainty that there was no way they had survived. They would have been unable to fight back or run._'

'_I cried myself to sleep for weeks, only Akiha's presence penetrating my depression._'

So he had lost his family too. It seemed like wherever she looked, everyone around her had lives filled with tragedy. Fu and her parents. Shu and the destruction of his clan. Herself, losing her own memory and unable to remember anything before she was eight.

'_We lived in a small town in the south of Iron named Haboro. It was calm and peaceful, and eventually Takumi, Akiha's father, became well regarded among the samurai for the swords he crafted. I continued my studies in sealing, pushing myself to live up to the task my master had entrusted to me, to honor him and my clan._

And there were the effects of the pressure and responsibility that had been pushed onto him. Something like that wouldn't just disappear, especially considering how traumatic the entire experience had been. It was probably how he had coped with the loss. Focusing only on the only thing he knew and could do, instead of being dragged into the past. Though it sounded like her mother had helped a great deal. Having someone who had gone through the same loss could ease the pain and create a bond of solidarity, as only they would understand what the other had gone through.

'_Akiha and I became best friends, and we eventually fell in love._'

So that bond had only gotten deeper as they grew older, or they had only ever considered the other as the person they would be willing to spend the rest of their life with.

'_We married when I was twenty, after her father had given his full approval. We moved away from Iron a few years later, leaving Takumi behind, settling in a rural area of Grass Country. We wanted to raise a child, and Iron's harsh winters and short summers weren't suitable for doing so._'

The Land of Iron was notorious for its climate. Even though it was bordered by two countries that were extremely temperate, Waterfall and Rice, it somehow managed to have snow and be frozen almost all year due to a weird mountain range and the high altitude.

'_The Yakin clan had a tradition, that as a child was being born, a blade would start to be forged for them, to be given to them when they were fourteen in a ceremony. The blade would show kind of person the child would grow up to be, almost prophetic according to stories he told._'

'_Takumi's father insisted upon maintaining that tradition, and nothing would sway him. It was his only condition for letting us leave him behind. Since the house he lived in was too remote for a phone, I linked a pair of journals so they would share the contents between the two, and he was satisfied that that would be good enough to agree to let us go._'

Strange tradition. But not the oddest she had ever heard of. Some people still divined the sex of a baby using bones. Because _that_ was accurate.

But something like those journals would be extremely handy. Why didn't things like that exist normally? Was it because of the complexity of the work? The fact that so _few_ people actually knew sealing to the extent that they could create new seals? It was rather strange, now that she thought about it.

'_You were born four years later, when I was twenty-eight. Akiha had a relatively painless labor, and you were brought into our lives. A few weeks after your birth, Takumi told us that the blade he had forged was one of his best. It was extremely pure and beautiful, showing you would be a truly good person. He planned to keep it until your ceremony, maintaining it so that it would be in perfect condition._'

Tayuya was simultaneously skeptical and intrigued. She had not been a good person. At all.

But, she had also changed, and now she thought that she _could_ be considered good at best, and neutral at worst.

She fully regretted the things she had done, the person she had been, and was working hard to change herself. Was it meant to represent her as she was now? Or something else?

'_We were happy. I made seals in order to provide for us, selling them to shinobi stores and by commission. Akiha primarily raised you, taking care of you. We both loved you completely._

'_But then Akiha's illness struck. Her death was tragic. And left a hole in my soul that could not be filled._'

She could imagine. The two of them had supported each other for over twenty years, through hardships and pain that could never be healed. And then his only support had disappeared, leaving him lost and unable to deal with the sudden gap in his life.

'_As I mentioned, I attempted to distract myself with work, and in the process ended up neglecting you. I am fully to blame for the events that occurred. Words would not be enough, so I will show you._'

Show her? _How?_ She looked below in confusion.

A small spiral sat on the page, and as Tayuya stared at it, the world seemed to twist around her. She gasped at the sharp pain of something foreign invading her mind with the subtlety of a hammer. There was a thought that was not hers, but was still present, worming through her head. She followed and grasped it, dragging it to the front of her consciousness.

And then she was no longer in her room.

* * *

**Eleven years earlier**

Tayuya was in a basement, writing, and she vaguely recognized that this was not her body. She sat at a desk, as her hand moved across sheets of paper, drawing complex characters in intricate shapes. She began feeling emotions that weren't hers, and fleeting knowledge that she didn't know. She was somehow inside a memory. Her father's memory.

Sensations began to blur together as foreign thoughts ran through her mind as part of the memory's playback. She was now some weird amalgamation of her father and herself, but she was also still only Tayuya. She tried to avoid thinking about the complexities and impossibility of what she was experiencing, and surrendered to it.

The desk she sat at was wooden, placed in the corner of a solid stone room. Bright lights hung from the ceiling, and the desk lamp to her right that sat against the wall illuminated the paper under her hand.

Various things were positioned around her at the edges of her sight. An inkwell to her right. A set of handwritten notes to her left. A book to the top-right, propped on a stand so it could be read without holding it up.

The notes that her hand was writing had a number of words that she couldn't even recognize. But there was a drawing above the words that looked like the same seal she had on her hand.

Tayuya/Shu heard a loud bang go off upstairs. His hand jerked, the brush skittering across the rest of the page like a seismometer's needle. But he didn't even notice it.

That sound. That sound had been a failed seal activation. The explosive kind. Something he hadn't heard since his childhood on Uzu. Something that always left the people in the immediate vicinity needing medical attention.

His blood froze in his veins and pounded like a drum in his ears.

The only other person in the house was Tayuya.

Oh god.

He stood up so quickly that the chair behind him was knocked over with a large 'crack'. Rushing to the other end of the room, he flew up the stairs, praying to Kami that his daughter was alright. That he had been mistaken.

The scent of smoke at the top of the stairs refuted that. Throwing open the basement door, he ran into the hallway. The smell was coming from the front of the house. His feet scrabbled for purchase as her ran towards the front door and then turned right into the hallway that led to the library. He halted.

The door had been blown off the hinges, lying askew in the hallway, broken in three pieces. He hurried to the doorway.

His stomach dropped, and the blood drained from his face. The surge of adrenaline he had had in the basement was refreshed anew.

Nearly the entire wall that made up the front of the house was missing. Pieces of plaster wrapped around jagged edges of the support beams at the top and bottom of the missing wall, looking like the maw of a toothy giant. The books that had lined the side shelves were completely scattered across the floor, some nearly cinder, others burning and smoldering around the room.

The walls were coated in a thin film of ash that also permeated the air. The furniture that had sat close to the front wall was in pieces, looking like already used timber, and all of it had been blown back to the wall where he was standing.

A two-foot circle of the wood floor near the missing wall was just gone, exposing the cement roof of the gigantic basement underneath it, a black ring of burnt wood surrounding it for three feet, the edges aflame. But the blackness of the floor was only in close proximity to that hole. That indicated a short, hot, forceful explosion. If Tayuya had been outside of the blast radius, and only hit by the concussive force, she might be alright, with just some broken bones. He had to be optimistic.

Shu quickly covered his mouth with his shirt and entered the room, moving through it, searching for any signs of his daughter. He threw pieces of the smoking chairs and couch to the side, ignoring the heat and pain in his hands, digging through the rubble. When he reached the bottom of the pile with no results, he became frantic.

"TAYUYA!" He yelled, hoping she might be able to respond. _If she even can respond._ the terrible voice at the back of his head said.

"TAYUYA!"

He wanted to fall to his knees. How could he have let this happen?

He was snapped out of his tortuous thoughts by a small sound from beyond the missing wall.

Running over to the hole, he stepped onto the slightly smoking grass that was covered in pieces of the front wall looking around for the source. A blob at the corner of his eyes caught his attention, and he focused in on it.

Oh gods. Was that her?

He flew across the lawn towards the discolored shape that lay un-moving.

She had been blown almost 20 meters from the house.

No. No.

Nonononononono.

He halted in shock, his heart in his throat, before forcing his legs to continue forward through sheer willpower. The scene in front of him looked like it was out of a nightmare.

She was sprawled on the ground, the area around her smoking. The grass immediately surrounding her was brown from the heat of being so close to her.

He forced himself to look. To see what had happened.

Her left side was black, the once-pink skin charred like charcoal, from what was left of her leg upwards.

Only obsidian, cracked stumps remained of her two left limbs.

Her left leg stopped existing three inches below her hip.

Her left arm was just… gone.

The left side of her hip was completely exposed, the skin burned into the nothingness, leaving only crumbling black bone that faded to sickly yellow and then ivory white.

Her chest was exposed, her shirt incinerated, and coal-colored flesh surrounded the ash-tainted carbonized bone of her bare ribs.

Her right side was better. But not by much. It was raw, skin completely missing in most areas, exposing muscle. And it bled freely.

He couldn't even look at her face, afraid he'd break down if he saw it. But he could still smell the sharp sulfuric smell of the burnt keratin in her hair.

He fell to his knees, all of the strength he had been mustering sapped from his muscles at the sight. Stomach acid gurgled up his esophagus, threatening to overflow.

It was too similar to the images that haunted his dreams at night.

Dreams of his dead friends. His teacher. His parents and brother.

"Papa." Oh gods. Her voice. Her beautiful voice. The happy tinkling soprano had become akin to rusted pieces of metal scraping against each other. "It hurts." How could she even talk in that much pain? How was she not crying, screaming at the top of her lungs? _How was she even alive?_

"I know, sweetie, I know. I'm so sorry." he responded, trying to soothe her, but his voice came out anguished and unconvincing to his ears.

His limbs felt like lead.

But the epinephrine that saturated his body refused to let his brain stop, forcing the neurons to fire as fast as chemically possible.

He needed to move her inside, now. She was going to bleed out if he just stood there, and he would not let his daughter die while both he and she were still breathing. He would not make the same mistake he made with Akiha again.

He forced his arms to tenderly pick her up from the right, and his heart broke every time he heard her soft whimpers and cries.

His felt something warm running down and dripping off of his arms. Her blood.

She felt so hot against his chest. Like she was still in the heart of the explosion.

He carried her into the smoking, smoldering library, stepping as quickly and smoothly as possible through the rubble, trying to avoid jostling her at all costs, moving towards the basement, towards the sealing chambers.

They were the only things he could think of that could possibly help at this point.

Shu descended the cement basement stairs as fast as he could, struggling to think of something that would extend the little time she had. He reached the bottom of the stairs, and headed towards the doorway on the left that was open, revealing a large forty foot square cement room.

The sealing chambers were his pride and joy. Where he did the most complicated aspects of his research and testing.

But now they had a new purpose.

They were needed to save his daughter.

He walked to the center of the room and turned to the right so that her head was farthest from the door.

He crouched down. "Tayuya. I need to put you down now. It's going to hurt. I'm sorry." His voice sounded empty. Flat. Foreign. Like it wasn't him who had spoken, but someone else.

She moved her chin only a fraction of an inch down, cracking the blackened flesh on the side of her neck in the process.

He lifted her away from his body, her raw skin pulling away from being adhered to his shirt that was soaked in her blood.

She cried out in pain, and it felt like an arm had punched straight through his chest.

He gently placed her on the cold cement floor, and rushed out the door without looking back, thinking only about what he needed. The chakra-reactive ink was in a locked cabinet on the other side of the room from his desk. Instead of unlocking it, he ripped the door off of its hinges, too pressed for time to care.

Grabbing the largest bottle he could see, he turned and dashed to his desk, snatching up the brush he had been using only minutes ago and running back to the room.

A red puddle now surrounded his daughter, expanding and growing with every beat of her heart, refusing to slow.

He didn't have much time.

"Tayuya! You have to stay awake! Please! You can't let go!" Unlike before, his voice was now a taut wire cable, fraying from tension and stress.

Unscrewing the cap on the bottle of ink, he flung it towards the doorway so that it wouldn't be in his way, but it stuck to his bloody fingers and barely made it half the distance. Dipping the brush into the bottle and pulling it out, he starting drawing characters as fast as he was physically able, the array already constructed in his mind.

But it wasn't fast enough in his opinion. Every second longer that it took to draw the array was another second she was slipping away into death.

The only sound in the room was the furious skritching of his brush against the dry cement and the sound of her shallow, short breaths. The sound was rapidly becoming softer, and he knew he was losing her. But he couldn't look up. Couldn't stop.

She stopped breathing after twenty seconds, but he kept writing.

The pool of blood still spread, but he kept drawing.

And three minutes later, he finished.

Approximately 200 characters made up a stable, standard medic stasis seal. A stasis seal had a time displacement ratio of 1:500. Every second inside would be 500 outside, about 8 minutes. For things like common disease, that worked fine, the heart beating only once or twice in those eight minutes.

But that wouldn't be enough here.

What he had drawn was highly advanced form that had been in one of the Uzumaki kinjutsu scrolls. There were hundreds of designs in it. But he had forced himself to memorize them all.

This array was composed of 800 characters. It was much closer to true suspended animation, actually slowing down time within the bounded field in a 1:500,000 ratio. It was his best chance at trying to keep her in a state so that he could save her, giving him five days for every second inside the active area.

It was notoriously unstable for any longer than a few months on the outside. The world rebelled against the injustice of having a pocket of time increasingly out of alignment, and would eventually resort to converting all of the contained matter to energy, using it to pull everything back into place. Because the phenomenon resembled an elastic band being slowly stretched and then released, it was called 'time-snap', and was why such high ratios were considered forbidden, as they would stretch the 'band' faster. Normal stasis seal could be used for years before they needed to be deactivated. This one would last two and a half months at best before destabilizing.

But if he didn't have a solution within two months, he never would.

"Sweetie, I promise I'll do everything I can to try and fix this. I'm so sorry." He said, solely for his benefit at this point. He could only hope that he was able to keep that promise.

He activated the seal. She didn't look any different, but he knew it had worked, the puddle of cooling crimson that had been continuously inching outwards no longer advancing any further.

Collapsing backwards onto the cold floor, his fingers painted trails of blood as he pulled them across the concrete and clenched them into fists. Tears of sadness and anger leaked from the corners of his eyes. This was his fault. He should have known that she would be interested in sealing because of him. It was only natural.

Except she hadn't known the one rule to learning it. Never, _ever_ do it on your own. There was a reason Uzushiogakure used a master/apprentice system for teaching fuiinjutsu. And the results of mistakenly thinking that she would have come to him first were right in front of him, in the form of her charred, mangled body.

She had probably just wanted to impress him. Wanted to get his attention. It was a harmless wish. And one he should have been fulfilling anyways.

He blamed himself completely. The fact that she had managed to get the chakra ink, which he kept locked up for the very reason of keeping away from her, and that he hadn't noticed it indicated that this was probably not a recent development.

He drew himself together. He needed to focus on saving her.

The closest thing that he could think of to what he needed to implement was Mito-sama's famed Yin Seal, and her related regeneration abilities. It was deceptively simple in theory, requiring only the control to store chakra at a single point on the user's body. But that kind of control was nigh impossible to achieve, and the amount of chakra in the seal was also gigantic.

Tayuya had been technically dead for over three minutes. He knew from reading medical information when Akiha was dying that that was edging on the time limit that iryonin could bring someone back through resuscitation. And it was within the time frame that brain damage started without getting oxygenated blood. Since the brain acted as the anchor for the soul, it was possible that her soul had already started to slip free and detach.

He could only hope that he had managed to halt that in time.

* * *

A blur flew past, and Tayuya got the sense that a little more than three weeks had passed before they slowed back down. She stood in front of a plain rectangular mirror above a sink, her father looking back. It was the first time she had seen his face. And all she could think was he looked like shit.

Shu was haggard and scruffy, dark bags under his eyes. The red hair that was the exact same shade as her own was flattened and limp, and his skin had a sickly pallor. He had only slept and eaten when his body absolutely required it.

But he had finally managed to do it.

He had designed a seal that would transfer almost all of his life-force over to Tayuya, healing her in the process. And for an Uzumaki, that was no small deal. His life-force had the potential of keeping him alive for close to two hundred years. And he was only 35, which meant he had more than eighty percent left. It was the only source of energy he had been able to find that was both strong enough, and available in large enough quantities.

The seal he had invented was insanely complex. And insane in practice.

He had attempted to design it in such a way that he would have enough time to arrange a place for her to live before he died, time enough to get everything in order to pass on to her. However, if his calculations and the design weren't _perfect_, he could die before the transfer process was complete, the life completely sucked out of him. Leaving only a husk.

But he had to try. There was no other option. Otherwise he wouldn't be able to face Akiha in the afterlife.

He left the bathroom at the end of the brightly-lit basement, walking past the desk. The splinters of the cabinet door still lay on the floor to his left, as he hadn't even thought to clean them up. He turned right, going into the sealing chamber where she lay, frozen in time. He focused his thoughts away from the fact that she was dead right now. This would work. It _had_ to work.

A spiderweb of characters crawled across the smooth cement floor and walls. It was the most complex seal he knew of, and he had memorized every single seal he had ever seen. He was essentially a living copy of the Uzumaki sealing archives. And this trumped all of them, incorporating pieces from more than _three hundred_ individual seals.

But the hardest thing hadn't been the design. It had been writing the seal while she lay there, always at the corner of his eye. Always reminding him of his failure as a father. He had avoided looking at her at all costs, as the pain of it was unbearable. It wasn't an image you could ever become desensitized to.

10,000 kanji littered every available position. And he still didn't know if it would work. But he had to try.

The only light in the room was from a single bulb that hung from the center of the ceiling, casting sharp shadows in every direction but illuminating Tayuya perfectly. She was deathly still, like a lifeless puppet. He turned off the light and sat down in the area that was marked for the donor, cross legged, facing Tayuya's feet, his back to the now-closed door.

He would get one chance. He had triple-checked everything, but the fact of the matter was that this was an untested seal. And that was what had brought about this tragedy.

He resolved himself, and deactivated the stasis seal. The life-transfer seal required there to be absolutely no outside interference.

Then he activated the main matrix. His back arched, and he momentarily tasted copper before it disappeared, his brain too overwhelmed with sensory input

It felt like fire, burning and twisting.

It felt like ice, chilling and piercing.

It felt like the sun, an inferno so hot there could not even be ash.

It felt like the void, a vacuum so cold his body would shatter.

It felt like Everything.

And It felt like Nothing.

It pulled through his body towards the floor in excruciating agony. Lava ignited, roasting in his veins, and his brain felt like it was being ground to a paste. Rods and tendrils of pain flowed like molasses through his spine towards the ground. It was as if his nerves were pulled out of his body and flayed in the open air. Tears leaked from his eyes, and his breathing became pained and labored.

The sharp smell of ozone managed to penetrate his pain-filled mind as the characters immediately around him started to crackle and spark a rusty red color, arcing. The energy stabilized, and they began glowing that same shade, before transitioning to crimson and then scarlet, continuing to get brighter and brighter. He worried that the transfer conduits were creating a bottleneck, unable to handle the sheer density and strength of what was being dragged out of him, the infamously strong Uzumaki life force becoming the thing that would permanently destroy them both. It would be morbidly ironic.

But the spiraling pathways held, and the blazing light moved away from him outwards, curving up onto the walls to the filter arrays, and then down back towards the center of the room, twisting in curving trails around his daughter, a luminescent vermilion vortex.

Nothing happened, and for a moment he became frantic, worried that he had failed, and it was simply draining him into nothingness, stealing his life to leave him only a shriveled corpse.

But then translucent red threads jumped out of the terminals around her, and burrowed into her body, sucked inwards, drawn into her center.

He forced himself to look at her. He needed to know if it was working. For another second, there was no change, but then slowly, gradually, the blackened skin began fading to red. And the red to white.

Her face which had been black and disfigured beyond belief re-arranged itself into the wonderful combination of his and Akiha's features.

Her red hair (_his_ hair) which had been almost entirely burnt started to grow back out, pushing its way out of her skull like extruded wire.

And her missing limbs, which had been only stumps, began to move. Bone forcing itself out of the red-white lumps of tissue and flesh, extending in rounded protrusions that became sheathed by woven red muscle and white sinew, nerves and arteries interweaving and twisting through the flesh like vines.

It was captivating, and the part of Tayuya that floated within the memory was entranced as she saw her body repair itself from mortal wounds for the second time. This was just as interesting as when her legs had been crushed. The two processes were completely different in comparison. Her legs had been repaired by undoing the actions done to them, essentially rewinding her body to a point where it had been alright. But this was true regeneration, and seeing how bone _grew_ as opposed to reassembling was mesmerizing.

Fresh skin flowed over the still growing limbs like mercury, moving all the way down to the tips of the digits that had just finished their extension and growth.

The tendrils of red kept flowing into her, even after she was visibly healed, and Shu wondered how long it would continue.

He gasped as the intense pain and dragging sensation abruptly halted, bringing with it welcomed relief from the agony. He didn't even know how long the entire process had taken, his sense of time warped by the unending pain.

The twisting lines of kanji that were glowing like red neon slowly lost their color, fading to orange. It looked like they had been permanently burned into the floor, melted into the concrete from the intensity of power, even if there had been no heat. The threads that still hung around her sunk into her skin, leaving nothing left in the air.

He collapsed, the blood that had collected in his mouth spat onto the floor, trying to catch his breath, and after a few seconds began inching his way over to the prone figure of his daughter.

When he got close, he could see her chest slowly moving up and down.

She was alive. Alive.

Everything would be alright.

A sensation of cool relief spread down his shoulders and over him, and all of the pain and exhaustion that the extraction and transfer had caused didn't exist anymore.

The girl in front of him mumbled something, and then opened her eyes. They struggled to focus on Shu's face.

"Who're you? What's going on? What's happening?" She asked. Her eyes darted around the dimly-lit room before landing back on Shu, the characters below them still glowing a muted orange. "Where're we?"

He searched her face, waiting for a hint of recognition, but it never came .

She didn't remember him. She didn't know him.

His heart shattered.

He wanted to cry and rage and shout at the injustice of it all. She had been healed. Her soul had been re-seated properly. But the shock of forcefully pulling it back into her body had done something irreparable.

Complete retrograde amnesia wasn't uncommon in victims of failed soul-techniques. And this had caused it as well.

There was no way to give a soul back the memories it had lost, unless they had been stored somehow beforehand. And hers had not.

He had ignored the possibility that this could happen, focusing to the point of delusion on the most perfect outcome. Obsessing in order to save his daughter.

He was utterly crushed. But he knew what he had to do.

Shu smiled at his daughter. "I'm nobody. But you're going to be alright now." he whispered. And pulling on the small amount of chakra he could, he re-activated the stasis seal that was still drawn around her, freezing her in a bubble of independent time.

He had saved her, but he had lost her. It was both the best and the worst result. She would never remember him. Never remember Akiha or Takumi. And with so little time for him to live left, it would be inhumanely cruel to give her happiness in the knowledge that he was her father, only for it to be torn away and ripped to shreds the moment he passed away.

He sat, weeping at the injustice.

After some time, after his tears had run dry and the pain had died down, he stood up slowly and stumbled, barely managing to catch himself. He was weak. Extremely weak. He hadn't even noticed the energy loss, too focused on trying to ensure that Tayuya was alright.

Shu leaned against the surface, dragging himself as he made his way towards the bathroom. Through the doorway. Back in front of the mirror. He looked the same as before.

Then his red hair began to turn white in front of his eyes, beginning at the roots and gradually extending to the tips.

So this was his price. He sighed. Only months or weeks to live. He felt like it was closer to weeks. He'd need to start getting things in order and ready. Even if she would never remember him. She was his flesh and blood.

He wasn't going to abandon her ever again, even in death.

* * *

**Present**

Tayuya was wrenched back to her bed.

She just sat there, stunned into silence.

She had felt everything. Her father's emotions. His feelings. His sadness. His despair. His self-loathing. His pain. His euphoria.

His _love_.

He had loved her. So much that he had gambled with his own life to try and ensure she would live. She had been able to _feel_ just how much he loved her. It was like nothing she had ever felt. It was overwhelming. Completely consuming.

Was that what it was like to be a parent? Was that what feeling truly unconditional love towards someone was?

She was caught up in the raw emotions, and felt disconnected from the rest of the world. Something wet dripped down her cheeks, and she vaguely recognized that it was caused by the tears running down her face. She took some deep breaths and they slowed to a stop.

She couldn't hate him. How could you hate someone like that? Someone who had sacrificed themselves like that, fighting against fate, against time, so that you could live?

He had been a her father, and it had been _her fault_ that he had died.

The book was still in her hands, her eyes stuck on the spiral between paragraphs. She moved to the next line.

'_Sealing is an amazing art, to allow something like the transfer of memories, is it not? Even if that particular seal is limited in how much it can store. You may wonder why I chose those particular memories, instead of others, instead of things like the happy times we had together. It's because I want you to know, to truly understand what I had to do and why. But do not blame yourself._'

That was _exactly_ what she was doing. As much as he told her that, she still felt unbelievably guilty about the things she had scene. The fear and pain she had caused him.

'_It was no fault but my own. I was responsible for you, and I failed in my duty as a parent. I paid for that mistake with my own life, to make sure that you could live. I wanted to wait to tell you in hopes that you would understand. That you would not be angry at me for leaving you. For not being able to care for you._'

How could she not think of him as anything except loving after that? Any doubts she had had been washed away like flotsam down a raging river. But she supposed he had a point. She would have been unable to understand the depth of his feelings if she had been younger. Unable to understand why he did what he did.

'_I plan on leaving you with a woman who offered to take you in, only a short ways from the nearest village. She helped and advised Akiha when she was raising you, and she will be able to take care of you._'

Tayuya could barely recall the old lady that she had lived with. She had become sick, and died less than six months later. Perhaps from the same thing her mother had. Everyone that she stayed around for an extended period of time seemed to die. Her mother. Her father. The caretaker. The Sound Four. Kimimaro. It was enough to make a person superstitious.

'_The journal that was connected to your grandfather's was burned in the explosion, along with almost all of the books in that room. I have not been able to inform him of what happened before now, but I hope to send a letter, if I have enough strength to make it to the village one last time before I die. My strength weakens daily. I am almost at the point where I cannot make the trip to your planned caretaker's house. But I will, for you._'

Well, that explained why she had never met him. After the old lady had died, everything was a blur and she somehow ended up on the streets of Tanzaku Gai. She had been alright for a few months. But the streets were not kind to an 8-year old girl.

Orochimaru had found her when she was ten. Tayuya had been unconsciously applying subtle and weak Yin-enhanced genjutsus to shop clerks by whistling simple tunes. It would distract them while the other children stole things, like food. She hadn't known why it worked, only that they would go into a daze and not notice what was really going on.

He had offered her a life that mattered, off of the streets. She had been skeptical even at that age, and it took him a few visits before she agreed. She had made him promise that he wouldn't hurt her. Which was terribly naive in retrospect, and is what had brought her into this mess. The lying fuck-face.

'_Your grandfather should have been visiting you, and given you your sword when you were fourteen, so I can only hope that most of this information is superfluous and only a new perspective, as in the best case you should at least know about my and your mother's existence. But I have learned to always prepare for the worst._'

She could imagine, having managed to save _the entire fucking clan library_ only because he and his shishou had planned ahead when nobody else had.

'_This book contains records of our clan's history, our culture, our life. It was mine when I lived on Uzushio, and now it is yours._'

She skipped ahead, past the all the pages of handwriting to find a title page or something. She found one. 'The History and Traditions of the Uzumaki Clan'. It sounded kinda boring.

'_However, it is not the only thing I have left you, by far. I have compiled a scroll, the same scroll my master used, adding all of my research notes to the knowledge and history already present. My personal journals are also included in that collection, and contain records of the events I have experienced from my childhood up until today, but I could not include them anywhere else in good conscious due to some of the information on fuinjutsu they contain._'

'_The scroll is stored in your hand, like this book was, using a completed version of the small seal I had been designing. But, the other sections of this seal will take a seal master to unlock. Hopefully this will prevent any possible deadly accidents ever from happening again. The notes to unlock it are written at the back of this book._

She flipped to the end of the book, and found the same blank pages covered in tiny handwriting. Except this was completely incomprehensible to her. There were technical terms and descriptions that she couldn't even _begin_ to understand. It was a very effective solution, as anyone who could understand this would be adequate enough to ensure she did not fuck up and blow herself to pieces ever again.

Finding a seal master just became a higher priority.

'_As I carried on the will of Uzushiogakure and our pride in sealing, so too do I charge you. Embrace your heritage, our legacy, and carry it forward to the next generation._'

Her vision swam for a moment, becoming a little lightheaded. That was a lot of pressure. She was responsible for the continuation or complete loss of their history and knowledge, just as her father had been before her. He hadn't even been able to do anything, like finding the scattered members who had survived.

But maybe she could.

She was also justifiably fearful of fuinjutsu now. Seeing yourself, burned into an unrecognizable piece of charcoal-like meat tended to do that. That shit was _dangerous_. It was now on the 'do-not-touch' scale right next to space-time and soul techniques because of those memories.

'_You are the most important thing to me. And you now hove my very life. The life-force, longevity, and body of a full-blood Uzumaki. My final gift to you. Hopefully, you will consider it a suitable eighteenth birthday present._'

How do you even respond to that? His gift was his life! There was literally _no way_ you could outdo that. If you weren't satisfied and happy with something like that, you had to have a heart of stone. Even if it was extremely bittersweet because of the circumstances.

'_I love you. Know that, and never doubt it. Your father, Shu Uzumaki, The Last Sealer of Uzushio_'

She was on the third page by now, and below his signature was a color photo.

A beautiful, tall, black-haired woman stood smiling to the left of a widely grinning man with shortish red hair. A small girl with the same shade was perched on his shoulders, gripping his head to keep from falling off, and was laughing in glee. The grinning man had an arm around the woman's shoulders, and a hand on the girl's knee, keeping her from falling off backwards. A stout, graying man stood to the left side of the woman, and was smiling faintly towards the camera, his eyes full of warmth.

She read the caption: Takumi, Akiha, Shu, and Tayuya. A date next to the caption indicated that she had been four when the picture was taken. She reached out a shaky hand and touched the faces in the picture. The tears she had managed to stop before were beginning to flow again, trailing warm paths down her cheeks.

Looking at the thing she had always wished for and wanted.

She had a name.

She had a clan.

She had a family.

And now she had a burning flame of hope that she might truly find a place where she belonged.

She needed to go to Iron, to find her grandfather.

Her blood ran cold.

Fucking hell. _How was she going to tell Fu?_

* * *

**A/N:**

Well that was fun. The plot just got kicked into high gear, huh?

But now you know what Tayuya's dream from Chapter 2 was about. And why there's an 'Uzumaki' in the title… And a bunch of other stuff.

What'd you think? You like Shu? You like that sealing stuff? You like the chapter? Yes? No? Maybe?

Please, leave a review! Let me know!


	9. Freedom

**Disclaimer:**

Did characters of Naruto ever wear appropriate clothing for the elements while outdoors in the Land of Iron? If not, I don't own Naruto, nor any of the characters in it.

* * *

**Chapter 9:**  
**Freedom**

This wasn't the first time she had used the bracelets to locate Fu. But it was the first time that the leaf-patterned ring on Tayuya's wrist had led to the girl's home.

She had walked through the inky-black night, following the path the bracelet led her in, after she had resealed the book back into her hand and gotten dressed in some proper clothing, of course. The new seal (like her other one) appeared to be permanently visible now.

For the most part, the streets had been well-lit and fairly clean. But as she walked further and further, flickering streetlamps, decaying buildings, and weeds growing between cracks of cement had become increasingly common.

And now she stood in front of a doorway of an aged apartment building. The metal stairs to the second floor had almost collapsed, the bolts that held it to the side of the building showing their age. The brick and mortar that made up the building was completely gone in areas, crumbling from age and neglect.

She glanced down again to make sure this was the right room. Yep. The bracelet pointed straight ahead.

_Well, I can understand why she wouldn't bring anyone by._

Fu was more than likely _not_ going to appreciate being woken at two-thirty in the morning. But Tayuya needed to talk to somebody. And she really didn't have anybody else other than the jinchūriki to talk to about something like this. Not to mention she'd have to deal with the girl's reaction sooner or later, and she figured sooner might be the better option.

Tayuya knocked on the door. It was made of metal, and the white paint on it was peeling and flaking, exposing red-orange rust to the air. She looked at her knuckles and saw a tint of white dust, so she brushed them off on her pants.

There was a faint 'click' of a light being turned on, and then shuffled footsteps that became louder. A deadbolt 'clunk'ed out of place, and the door opened a little.

An orange eye peeked through the crack."Tayuya?" Fu opened the door the rest of the way, the hinges squeaking and protesting at the motion. "What're you doing here?"

Whoa. Fu with bedhead was… interesting. Little tufts of green hair stuck up around her like a ruffled feathers. She wore cute pajamas. Patterned with tiny beetles. _Of course._

"Hey. I, uh, I need to talk to you about something. And it can't wait." She responded nervously. Fu's eyes gained a little more brightness, and she shook her head, trying clear out the last of her stupor.

"Well… okay. Come in." Fu stood to the side and Tayuya entered.

It was tiny. One room. The walls were painted an off-color shade of yellow, and were bare of any decorations: no molding at the ceiling, no baseboard at the floor. There were two doors inside. The slatted one to the right looked like a closet while the solid one on the left side of the room opened to a small bathroom with only an old sink, a stand-up shower, and a toilet. The largest piece of furniture was the plain rectangular bed, and it sat against the back left corner, away from the door. A plastic lamp sat on a rickety wooden side table to the left of the bed, and illuminated the rest of the room.

"You can sit on the bed. I don't really have anywhere else." Fu said sleepily. She walked over and rolled onto it, drawing her knees up and yawning.

Tayuya crawled onto the bed and crossed her legs, facing Fu.

"Something weird happened. Like, _really_ weird. Completely unexpected. And I need to tell you because I think I need to talk to someone about it, and it kinda indirectly affects you. But…. _please_ don't try and jump to conclusions." Tayuya pleaded. She really did not need the girl to suddenly go and jump to conclusions. Especially in the worse directions.

Fu froze for a moment and clenched up, reminding Tayuya of a snail.

_Goddammit._

"…What kind of something?" the green-haired girl asked warily.

Tayuya sighed and figured it would just be easier to show her rather than explain everything. She held up her right hand so that Fu could see the back and the spiraling seal, illuminated by the dim yellow light.

"Another seal showed up. This one. Except it told me what it was."

"What? What do you mean?" Fu's tone still held a sense of wariness, but now there was also vague curiosity, and all signs of her previous drowsiness were gone.

Tayuya brought her hand down, channeling a bit of chakra into the seal and thinking about the book. A 'poof' later, and it was sitting on the back of her right hand.

"…What is that?" In response, she simply picked it up and handed it over to the other girl.

"It'll be easier if you just read it." The letter was a bit personal. But she was close enough that Tayuya didn't care, and it was easier than repeating everything.

She watched Fu begin to read, tracking the changes in her expressions. The first one was surprise, and a tint of awe.

"Y-your _father_?" Fu stuttered out. She looked up at Tayuya, disbelief written on her face.

"Yeah, keep reading. It gets weirder." Tayuya waved towards the book, and the girl turned back to the page.

Tayuya just watched her, trying to understand what she was thinking. There was confusion, happiness, and jealousy as Fu moved through the rather wordy letter and then there was amazement.

"They saved _the entire library_? In _six hours_? How is that even possible?"

She shrugged in response. "I don't know. He said they sealed entire bookcases. That probably made it a lot easier." Fu seemed to accept that and went back to reading, becoming enraptured in the tale of Shu's escape. Tayuya had been the same way. It had been like she was there.

And then the other girl's face turned a shade of green that rivaled her hair. "H-How could they do that? Killing them all, in the water like that… How could anybody be that _cruel_?"

"Fear always brings out the worst in people." Tayuya said softly. Thoughts of Kiri started to move to the front of her mind, but she clamped down on them before they could surface. The fact that Fu was right next to her was immensely helpful, strengthening her ability to focus on happier thoughts.

The girl across from her just nodded silently in agreement, and eventually went back to the book after her face had transitioned back closer to its usual butterscotch color.

"What does he mean by 'transfer of memories' here?" she asked, pointing at a sentence. Oh. So it was a one-time thing.

"He somehow put some of his last memories into that little spiral that activated when I read that part. They…. weren't very pleasant." Tayuya responded. _Yeah, that's one way to put it._ "I was in an accident with a badly activated seal, and ended up blowing both a room and myself to bits. I got really burned up. It was, uh, not pretty." She decided not to go into any further detail, remembering how Fu had reacted to the description of her squished legs.

"Anyways. He tried to get me under a stasis seal while I was still breathing, but I stopped before he finished. He spent weeks trying to figure out how to save me, and ended up making this seal to transfer his entire life force, healing me at the same time." Fu looked a little envious at that. Tayuya could understand why. The jinchūriki's parents were some of the worst she could have had, and in comparison _her_ father had willingly given her his _life_, the ultimate sacrifice.

"But something happened to my soul, and I lost all my long-term memories. That's why I can't remember anything before I was seven or eight. And why I only knew really basic stuff like my first name and age." Fu nodded, and jerkily turned back to the journal. Tayuya felt a bit guilty. She didn't mean to make her feel bad.

Fu finally made her way to the end of the letter, and looked silently at the photo, her eyes drinking in the scene. After a couple minutes she shut the book quietly. The room was silent.

"So what now? Are you going to try and find him? Your grandfather?" She asked shakily, her voice soft and lifeless. Tayuya could _see_ the girl's expectations of imminent pain and abandonment, pushing her to close off her emotions.

_This_ is why she had been worried about having the green-haired girl become so attached to her, so quickly. And vice versa. She had been (and was) worried that Fu would become so emotionally dependent on her that anything unexpected would completely tear her apart, validating her fears of abandonment. But like watching a train-wreck in motion, unable to do anything to stop their relationship from growing. And Tayuya really didn't want to, either.

"Y-Yeah. I want to look for him." Fu started to say something, her face twisted into an expression of hurt and betrayal. Tayuya rushed to finish her sentence. "But I want you to come with me!"

Fu froze, shocked still. "W-What?"

Tayuya took a breath, before saying it more calmly. "I want you to come with me. To Iron."

She could see the gears whirring behind those bright orange eyes, and Fu looked just about ready to agree, before they abruptly went cold and hard again, and her face fell.

"I can't."

"What? Why not?"_This is her chance, why isn't she taking it!?_

"Taki would never let me go." the jinchūriki answered bitterly.

"FUCK TAKI!" Tayuya shouted. "What _good_ have they ever done for you?"

Fu looked away from her towards the blank wall, avoiding Tayuya's eyes.

"Look. We can work something out. Iron is a neutral country. No shinobi. So if we can get in, Taki can't do anything about you, and you don't have to worry about being put in the bingo books, at least not any other country's, because they wouldn't want to advertise that they had lost their giant weapon." Tayuya said, explaining her reasoning.

Fu turned back to her.

She took that as a signal to continue. "Look, it'll be easy. You do missions out of the village, right?" she asked.

The green-haired girl nodded hesitantly, and Tayuya took that as a cue to continue.

"Alright. So, you request one of those. I leave before you. And then you catch up to me. We can be over the border before they realize anything's happened. Taki's done shit for you. I _know_ the only reason you haven't left is because you're afraid of being hunted down and branded a traitor." Her voice became pleading. "But this is your chance. You won't be alone. I'll be with you. We can go. Get away. Go somewhere and just… disappear off the map."

This was the best plan she'd been able to come up with while sitting at home, worrying about how to convince the girl to join her after coming to the shocking conclusion that there was no way in _hell_ she was willing to leave Fu behind to deal with this village's oppressive, abusive environment without her by the girl's side.

She had become too emotionally invested.

But she really couldn't care less.

Tayuya liked this. Having someone you could talk to no matter what. Who didn't judge you for the things you had done, but the person you were now. Who could understand you, and _liked_ you just for being you.

Fu had given her a taste of what that was like.

It was addicting.

Tayuya didn't think she could ever go back to being the distant, caustic girl she had been before. She'd changed too much, opened herself up too wide to ever become so closed off again. It was both alarming and thrilling. She wanted this. _Needed_ this.

And she _wasn't_ going to give it up without a hell of a fight.

"_I_ need to find my grandfather. And _you_ need to get somewhere that isn't Taki, somewhere you don't have to live like an outcast, somewhere safe. Iron is perfect for that." Tayuya stated.

Fu bit her lip in obvious anxiety, the consequence of trying to deal with and process too much at once. "I need - I need to time to think about it. And to talk to Sado. I need to see him." she said.

Tayuya relented at that and stopped pushing.

But it felt like she had won the green-haired girl over.

* * *

Fu went to see Sado first thing in the morning. She hadn't been able to go back to sleep. Thinking of all of the things she had just learned about her best friend.

The shock of it all was mind-numbing. She was slightly thankful for that, as it kept her from falling to pieces _immediately_.

She had frozen in fear when she thought that Tayuya was going to leave her behind. She had almost shut down completely, trying to block out the pain of being abandoned and discarded _again_.

This time by the girl she had slowly but surely fallen in love with.

And then Tayuya had suggested that Fu join her.

She had nearly agreed right away out of reflex, just to stop the pain, to make it all disappear. And then her brain had restarted itself, and she realized there was no chance. Taki would never let her go.

But Tayuya had offered a plan that had given Fu hope. And it was just crazy enough that it might actually work. She hadn't wanted to give into that tiny spark. But she had.

It was all she had left.

She knocked on Sado's door (it was blue), glancing about to make sure no-one was in the immediate vicinity to see her enter his apartment. He didn't really care all that much, but she didn't want to ruin his life or anything just by being in contact with him. It was around six-thirty in the morning, before he left for his shift, and she knew he'd be up by now. He lived in an apartment building that was much nicer than hers.

Sado opened the door. "Hm? Fu? What's up?" he asked, letting her into the apartment.

"I need to talk to you." she explained, walking to the living room and collapsing onto the squarish super-soft chair. She needed the comfort right now.

She turned to him as he sat himself down on the white couch adjacent to her with a cup of black coffee. The aroma was tantalizing, and Fu's stomach ached, reminding her she had entirely forgotten about eating.

"Something's happened." Her voice betrayed her anxiety.

"Tayuya's leaving." he responded.

"Tayuya's lea-. What!? How did you know that?"

"You're here, at six-thirty in the morning, and you look like you're going crazy with worry. Something's happened with Tayuya. And since you're here instead of with her, it wasn't something life-threatening. Therefore, Tayuya's leaving. It was going to happen eventually." He sipped his coffee. "And nothing else would get you this worked up."

Alright. Maybe he did have something there. But he made it sound like such a natural conclusion. Was she really so simple that her thoughts were that transparent?

"Yes. You are." _When the hell did you become psychic?_ He took another sip of the bitter drink. "At least when it's about her. It comes with being in love."

Fu eyed him. Saying that kind of thing made him seem so _old_. It was weird. She knew he'd had a life before they met, but it never really came up. But it was things like this that made it clear just how much life experience Sado had with certain topics in comparison to her.

"So. What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I don't know! That's why I'm here!" she asserted. He gave her a deadpan look.

"Well, you're not in tears, emotionally broken, or disconnected. So she must have asked you to go with her." Alright, now it was just getting creepy.

He laughed at her expression. "Give me a little credit. I've known you for over five years now." Fu pouted. "Where's she going?"

"Iron. To find her grandfather she just found out about." Fu responded. Sado looked slightly surprised, but then smiled.

"Iron, huh? That'd be perfect for you, right? Ninja-neutrality and all. But I hear it's pretty cold there." he said, looking at her thoughtfully.

"Yeah." More like freeze-your-nipples-off cold. She hated cold weather. But she knew she'd deal with it if she was with Tayuya. It just went to show just how much the redhead meant to her at this point. A _ridiculous_ amount.

"It seems to me like you have your answer right there." he stated, as if reading her thoughts.

She just sat there in shock. "What?"

"It's the obvious choice, too. The reason you aren't breaking down or depressed beyond belief is because you've already chosen to leave." Sado explained.

She tried to refute him, to tell him that wasn't true, but the words lodged themselves in her throat.

He put the cup of coffee down on the center table, the ceramic of the mug clinking on the glass, and sighed.

"Fu. Don't let your pride and fear stop you from doing what you need to do _for you_. You _need_ to go. I've watched you grow up, and Takigakure is slowly but surely suffocating you. It's going to be your death before you're twenty. You need to experience something else." He picked up his coffee again, drinking some and then holding it between both hands, looking down into it for a moment, and then looking back up and locking eyes with her.

"You're a bright and energetic girl, now that you've opened up and become more true to yourself. I wish you could see how much you've changed since you met Tayuya. Before it was like you were simply dragging on through life, and everyday was a chore to be completed. I almost never saw you smile. But now you're expressive, and cheerful, and whenever you think about her you practically glow with content, this huge grin on your face. And I'm so proud of you, because you've finally found a reason to _live_. Don't let go of that. I don't want to see you revert back into the person you used to be.

"You can't let your fears control you, and stop you from being the person you _could_ be. But. That means you'll have to step out of your comfort zone every so often." he said.

So he wanted her to go? "B-But, what about you?" She didn't want to leave him behind. He had been such a big part of her life.

"What about me? I'll be here. I'll be fine. I'm not going anywhere. And more recently you've needed to talk with me less and less, because you're happier and don't need my support anymore. That's okay. Part of growing up is learning how to leave friends behind as you move forward. Don't let this sort of thing pass you by because you're afraid of the repercussions. I know what it's like to make the wrong choice." His voice held sadness and regret, and his face briefly flickered with remembered pain.

Fu's eyes watered momentarily. "A-Alright." She resolved herself. "Alright. I'm going." she said. And she knew then that it had been decided the second Tayuya had said she was leaving.

Her heart wouldn't allow her to do anything else.

It felt bittersweet. Bitter because she would be leaving Sado behind. The person who had helped her so much growing up, and had given her her first taste of what it was like to be cared about _unconditionally_, something her parents had failed at. And he was her first friend. But it was sweet because it would mean the beginning of something she had only dreamed of: Freedom. Free from this horrible village. Free to be with Tayuya as long as the redhead wanted her around.

"I-I'll write you. Even if I can't tell you where we are." Fu promised.

Sado smiled again. "Alright."

She got up, and went around the short table. Sado stood, and she hugged him tightly, gripping the back of his shirt as tears slid down her cheeks. "I'm going to miss you." she whispered.

He ruffled her hair. "Nope. You won't even get the chance. You'll be having too much fun."

* * *

As soon as Tayuya got to work, she explained to Yamada that a family emergency had come up, that she had to leave unexpectedly and would probably be living with them for the foreseeable future. He said he understood, wrote her a paycheck, and told her that if she ever came back she would have a job with him. She thanked him, and then immediately went to cash the check before heading home to pack.

There was a bunch of stuff she had accumulated. But she had some extra storage scrolls from Shin and Yomi. She'd have to tell them what was happening. They'd be pretty interested in this development. Especially if she actually found her grandfather.

So she went about, packing her things, preparing to leave that night. Iron was a completely different climate, and she'd need different clothing to travel through the cold country. Chakra could only do so much below freezing. So she needed things like a heavy thermal jacket. Snow-pants. Water-proof insulated boots. Gloves. And Tayuya could finally use this opportunity to get a new hat, even if it was a different kind than the one she had before. She smiled to herself at that thought.

She really hoped Fu would accept her offer. Taki was not good environment for her to be in. She needed to get away and see what a life without a guillotine hanging over your head was like. It had done wonders for Tayuya (her proverbial guillotine having gone by the name of 'Orochimaru'). And she had no idea what she would do if the green-haired girl _didn't_ agree to join her. She honestly didn't _want_ to think of that option.

She didn't want to imagine not being able to be with her.

* * *

They met up for lunch, and Fu agreed to join Tayuya, which made the redhead uncharacteristically pleased. After that, they sat planning what they would do, and what they needed. Fu had gone home immediately after talking to Sado and packed as well. But she didn't have any winter clothing. Since it would be suspicious if the village jinchūriki suddenly went and bought clothes for a climate she should never be in, Tayuya was going to get outerwear for her the same time she got her own.

After lunch, she went and bought the clothes they needed, sealing them into one of her last free sealing scrolls. A sea-green jacket for her, and a blue one for Fu. Each had a hood. Both pairs of pants, boots, and gloves were black. And she had gotten an orange beanie. She was really happy about that. Even if it _did_ make her head look like an upside-down flame.

Once she had checked the flat three times to make sure she hadn't left anything behind, Tayuya went outside with Shin's old bag on her back and locked up the apartment, dropping the key in the mailbox like Yamada had requested.

She left the house around two, but it took an hour to walk all the way across the village to the east gate. Even outside the gate, she had to walk in order to maintain her image as a civilian, and so her progress was slow. Once darkness fell, she crawled up into a tree and prepared to go to sleep.

If everything went as it should, Fu would go get an away mission tomorrow. She'd leave the village, heading whatever direction she was supposed to go. As soon as the trailing ANBU left (which might take awhile), she'd circle around and head east, and they would meet up around noon.

All Tayuya could do was cross her fingers and hope things went smoothly.

* * *

She was woken up at dawn by the same kind of goddamn birds that were around her house. She made her way down from the large tree and back onto the road, trudging along slowly, only pausing to get out an energy bar for breakfast. Not the best tasting. But high-calorie. Perfect for getting ready to run later.

She lost track of time, just staring ahead off into the distance. Everything looked the same. The trees, the horizon, the road. The monotony was practically anesthetizing.

"Hey!" _Fuck!_

Tayuya spun around and looked up at the trees in a ready stance before relaxing with a sigh. It was only Fu.

"Hey yourself. Everything go alright?" The girl nodded from her spot up on a tree branch. She was wearing her typical white outfit with the carbon mesh body armor underneath. Tayuya still thought the armor was absolute overkill considering Fu's abilities, but she swore it was great for close quarters. The only difference was a weird red thing on her back.

"What the hell is that thing?" Tayuya motioned at the object behind the girl.

"Hm? Oh! This is how I carry stuff!" Fu grinned widely. She jumped down to the ground next to her, and swung it off her back, allowing Tayuya to see the thing properly. It was a hard red tube made of… something. Its appearance reminded Tayuya of giant red thermos. Except clearly not metal on the outside. Fu unscrewed the top and tilted the entire thing so Tayuya could take a look.

Inside was a massive scroll. Not as big as the one Shu had described, but it was at least as big as the snake summoning contract she'd seen Orochimaru pull out from time to time.

"See? It's a scroll with pre-drawn storage points." Fu explained, pulling it out bit, and turning it around some, showing Tayuya a column of three points.

"Huh, that's pretty cool."

Fu let the scroll slide back in and screwed the cap back on. "Yup! It's airtight and waterproof everything. It's not really the best for things you need to get out constantly, but it's great for long trips. And I still love it anyways. It was one of the first things I bought when I had enough money, and it sort of became like a good luck charm for me when I'm traveling, so I've gotten really attached to it."

Tayuya nodded in understanding. It was like her old flute had been for her. Well, before it got cut into little pieces. It hadn't been great, but she'd still become pretty fond of it. "If we run, it shouldn't take more than an hour to cross the border. Ready?"

Fu nodded, lifting the tube over her head and settling the straps across her chest. "Mhm."

"Alright then. We should try to get there as fast as we can." Tayuya looked at Fu. "I mean, as fast as _I_ can go." The green-haired girl had demonstrated just how fast she could go without augmenting her muscles one day, and there was no chance of Tayuya keeping up with that for long periods of time like she had said she could.

Leaping up into the foliage on the side of the road, they headed east. The pair was silent for the most part, but it was a comfortable and calm silence.

Tayuya was glad that Fu was back to her usual chipper self instead of the hollowness she had displayed yesterday morning or the remnants that had still been around at lunchtime. Whatever Sado had said to her seemed to have really helped ease Fu's mind.

The trees steadily began to grow further and further apart, having switched from completely deciduous to mostly evergreen. The air kept getting colder and colder as they rose in altitude. Fifteen minutes later, they stopped and layered up. The warmth was pretty uncomfortable for the next quarter hour, even without the gloves on or the jackets zipped up. But after that, they were glad they had they extra clothing.

The trees finally got to the point where they were too far apart to jump between, so they descended onto the road and kept running. After ten minutes, the ground was covered in an two inches of snow, and they had to slow down. At the same time, they put on their gloves and closed their jackets. It wasn't long after that that a small wooden building, a border post, popped up by the side of the road. And it was manned by a pair of samurai. '_Surprise!_'

They were dressed in their usual white armor-slash-uniforms, with the masks and swords and everything. Proper Iron Country samurai. Tayuya resisted the temptation to stare.

The girls drew up to the outpost. "Halt!" _Yeah, no shit._ "Please present your identification." the one on the left said.

Fu fished out her 'civilian' ID from Taki, and Tayuya pulled out hers from the Land of Rice and her time with the snake. It was the same one she had used when she had entered Taki. Civilian IDs were a common thing for shinobi, in case they needed to get into places that were restricted and not be known as ninja. Like now.

It was technically illegal for crossing borders or anything international, because it could be considered an act of war in certain cases, but they were also technically ex-ninja. And Tayuya didn't care how ethical or not it was anyways. They just needed to get in.

The guard who took the two laminated cards looked them over and noted their names in a ledger.

"Alright. You're good." He handed back their cards.

"You… wouldn't happen to know what direction Haboro is in, would you?" Tayuya asked them. They hadn't had any maps of Iron at the store where she'd gotten the winter gear. Maybe it was a security thing or something.

The guard that hadn't handled the IDs turned to Tayuya and pointed down the road. "You need to continue on this path, take a right at the forks, another right, and then a far left. The signs should show you the way after that. But it's probably going to take longer than a day to get there, so be aware of the weather. There's a tendency to get sudden snowfalls up in the mountains." he warned.

"Thanks." she said, nodding to him. The two girls walked away from the guard post, entering Iron.

Shit. She hadn't planned for any longer than a day. She'd known that the snow would slow them down, but had still thought that they would easily be able to make it to the town and find an inn in less than seven hours. Especially with Iron being the size it was and her father saying it was in the south. She hadn't ever needed to deal with winter climates like this before.

Tayuya turned to Fu nervously. "I, uh, thought this would be take less than a day, so I didn't buy thermal sleeping bags."

Fu groaned. "Great."

* * *

The pair followed the samurai's directions, and were conscious of the time in relation to their location. The further they went, the higher in the mountains the path climbed, eventually getting to a point where there were only conifers, the path weaving through the trees lazily, having been made to maximize use of the flatter areas available.

They'd just passed the third fork when snow started to fall, around six in the evening.

It started light at first, but steadily got heavier. Fu voiced concerns about continuing, but they decided to keep going and just keep an eye out for anything they could use as shelter. When the snow got to be half a foot deep, and they were starting to have trouble seeing straight, they gave up on moving forward at all and started looking for a place to spend the night.

They found a cave thirty minutes later, thankfully empty of animals, underneath a rocky outcropping a ways off the path. Not that they could really see the path anymore. But it was just in time, as the falling white began to blot out even the clouds, and their vision became zero.

And so they were trapped. It wasn't a large cave. And it was pretty narrow, about four feet wide. Which meant sleeping would be uncomfortable. But it was all they had to work with. Thankfully, it seemed the wind was coming from behind them and therefore wasn't blowing snow into the cave. Which would have been terrible.

They ended up lying right next to each other on their backs, still in their clothes, trying to retain as much heat as they could.

There was no way to tell the passing of time, except for when the snow went from bright white, to dark white, indicating the sun had set. They had both munched on a shinobi ration bar each, and then settled in for the night, prepared to stay in the cave until the blizzard passed.

Tayuya lay on her back, staring at the ceiling, shivering. This sucked. Absolutely sucked. She was cold, and tired. Fu had fallen asleep, but Tayuya was finding it extremely difficult.

She was having a really hard time not being annoyed about the situation and her own role in creating it by not being prepared.

Fu shifted in her sleep, rolling over and dropping an arm over Tayuya's chest. The redhead stiffened at the contact and felt herself heart up. She was about to move the offending appendage until the girl actually grabbed her midsection and placed her head on Tayuya's shoulder. She could feel the heat of the Fu's breath on her neck.

The green-haired girl mumbled something unintelligible, and all Tayuya managed to pick out was her name. Why was she in Fu's dreams? Well, they had been spending a lot of time together. So it wasn't _too_ odd. Right? She felt a comfortable warmth spreading through her, and was unable to stop herself from smiling at the feeling. Having Fu hug her like this felt really nice.

Tayuya carefully moved her left arm out from under the other girl and around so that it was behind Fu's back, the redhead's hand curling around and laying on the side of the girl's torso. She closed her eyes contentedly, and a wave of sudden drowsiness swept over her.

Maybe being stuck here wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

**A/N:**

So yeah, unlike Fu, Tayuya doesn't have someone to coach her in how to talk to people about things, and thus, she takes the blunt route by default.

Sado is a lot of fun. Both as a character and to write. Originally he was supposed to be more comedic and provide relief from all of the serious stuff, but it really didn't suit him, or what Fu needed. So he evolved into this pseudo-brother/guardian role.

THE RED TUBE! Oh man. Honestly one of my favorite never-explained things in Naruto ever. I've seen it used for carrying insects, and there was one story I read where it was empty for almost the entire thing as a joke. But this is what I decided to make it into: an all-weather scroll carrier.

We're _finally_ out of Taki. It only took forever.

I'm really glad there was some small fluff at the end. I like ending chapters on a happy note like this… unlike 80% of the time. Damn my dramatic tendencies.

Please review! (Even though I know this felt like filler. lol)


	10. Changing Reflections

**Disclaimer:**

Was Sasuke's chokutō's origin never even talked about _despite_ the fact that he called it Kusanagi[-no-Tsurugi], and Orochimaru's (mystical) sword went by that same name? If so, I don't own Naruto, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 10:**  
**Changing Reflections**

Tayuya woke to a blinding light, and blearily wiped at her eyes. Her elbow hit something, why–

Oh, right. Iron. Blizzard. Cave. Sleep. Fu.

The fresh, cold alpine air woke her quickly, bringing her to full awareness at a rate that she had never experienced before.

She looked down at the bright green blob that was the head of girl who was still holding onto Tayuya's torso, even eight hours later. She decided not to disturb her, and to simply enjoy the warmth in her chest that she felt.

Tayuya was not usually one for physical contact. Or 'warm and fuzzy'. But there was a sense of protectiveness, ease, and content that she felt around Fu that made her think that it was alright. Anybody else, no. But Fu was allowed.

_Maybe even wanted_, the voice in the back of her head whispered.

She looked closer at the girl's shortish mint hair. You might not expect it, but it was amazingly soft. The orange clip that normally held back her bangs was temporarily gone, stored away while they were in the freezing temperatures of Iron. Metal, skin, and freezing cold could only ever result in pain. Hmm. Tayuya idly wondered how her healing would react to frostbite, when would it kick in? Or would it just not happen, like how she never developed bruises? Not that she was going to be testing this out anytime soon.

Tayuya turned her head away from the still-sleeping girl, and tilted her neck up, craning over her puffy jacket and Fu's head to try and get a glimpse out of the cave entrance. She could see blue sky above mountains far off in the distance. Which was great. The blizzard was gone, having blown itself out in the night. Now they just had to deal with the giant snow drifts. Which is what snow pants were for.

She relaxed her neck from its awkward position, placing it back on Shin's bag which she had been using as a pillow. Her left arm was still wrapped around Fu, holding her in place. Which explained why Fu was still like that. Oh. Well…

Tayuya considered letting go for all of half a second before reasoning that it would disturb the other girl, thus she shouldn't… it wasn't because she wanted Fu to keep hugging her or anything.

A little while later (she wasn't really keeping track of time) the girl began to stir.

"Mmmrgh." Her eyes fluttered open, and she turned her head to look up at Tayuya. Their noses were only inches apart.

"Look who's finally awake." she greeted, smiling.

Fu shook her head, and then looked at Tayuya again, wide-eyed, before throwing herself backwards off of the shorter girl… right into the wall of the narrow cave. She quickly turned to look out of the entrance, making it so Tayuya couldn't see her face, and clutched at the back of her head in pain.

"Auuuuuuuuu." Fu whimpered a little.

"Shit, are you alright?" That had looked like it _really_ hurt.

Tayuya sat up, now that she was no longer being restrained, worried that the other girl might have a concussion or something. It would leave a bump, at the very least.

"I-it's nothing! Nothing." Fu laughed nervously, still rubbing at the back of her head. "I'll be fine." Well, okay. But Tayuya didn't like seeing the girl in pain. That sense of weird protectiveness was showing itself again.

"How'd you sleep?" Tayuya asked her.

"Good! I slept really well. Even though we were in a cave." Fu laughed again, the sound echoing in the cave's chamber. "Weird huh?"

"No, I slept great too." She felt _amazing_.

The green-haired girl turned around, slightly red in the face. Tayuya was probably a bit rosy-cheeked too. Cold air would do that.

Tayuya turned around and brought her bag to her front, placing it on her lap. "So, you want to eat and get going? We need to figure out where the hell we are and where the path is."

Fu nodded. "Yeah."

The two of them ate their weird-tasting ration bars and got ready to leave. They ventured outside, only to immediately step into snow that reached halfway up Tayuya's thigh. Wading through the snow bank, they made their way over to a less deep patch, but only by about half.

"Damn. That must have been two feet. Where do you think the path is?" Tayuya tried looking around. She really hoped they weren't lost. "It could be anywhere now." She pulled out a compass from one of the pockets on the side of her bag and flicked it a couple times, trying to get the needle move around.

Fu tapped her shoulder. Tayuya turned to her, and followed her gloved hand to look where she was pointing.

"Oh." There was a fresh trail in the snow obviously made by a human, so someone must have already passed by since the blizzard had ended. "We'll just follow those south then." Hopefully the tracks would at least bring them to a point where there was a sign or something. Tayuya really wanted to get out of this fucking cold weather, and inside somewhere warm.

The girls trudged along through the eleven-inches of snow that covered the ground, their boots crunching as it compressed beneath their feet.

Fu glanced at Tayuya. "So what do you think he's going to be like?"

"Hm?" Tayuya turned her head so she was facing the other girl. "Who?"

"Your grandfather, silly." She stuck out her tongue, but then quickly retracted it and made a weird face, like she had just accidentally eaten a bunch of pepper.

Tayuya laughed at her expression. "I don't know. My dad seemed to think really well of him, from what he wrote. He lived with Takumi and my mom ever since they found him. And then Takumi let the two of them get married and move away. So he can't be _too_ bad." Right?

"But, I bet he's lonely. All by himself." Fu said, solemnly. Tayuya couldn't help the _like you were?_ that ran through her mind. But she wasn't alone anymore. And Tayuya would make sure that's how it would stay. "Shu-san never mentioned your maternal grandmother, right?"

"Nope." Tayuya said.

"Then maybe she was at Uzu. But your mom was traveling with Takumi-san when he was delivering that blade. So maybe something happened to her before that? And Takumi-san had to take care of her on his own?" Tayuya paused her walking for a moment. She hadn't thought of that. But it would make a lot of sense. She resumed her steps, crunching quickly to catch up with Fu.

"We could just ask him when we meet him. If we can find him. He might be dead for all we know."

_Like everybody else who's ever been important to me._ she thought bitterly.

That would really suck. A lot. Her last connection to family, gone.

Fu gave Tayuya a side-glance around her jacket's hood and smiled at the redhead. "Nahh. He looked too tough in that picture to just die in 14 years. He didn't look too old either." She bumped into Tayuya's shoulder, making her smile. "And you know, if anything, he's probably hanging on to life just to give you that blade. Shu-san made it seem like your grandfather would do anything to make sure you got it. And I _know_ you're looking forward to that."

Tayuya grinned at that. The thought of being able to learn something that was clan tradition, that was in her _blood_ (well, besides sealing, which she was justifiably wary of right now) got her really excited. And apparently it was from both sides too, forging on her mother's and wielding on her father's.

She just hoped she wouldn't be as terrible at using a knife or a sword or whatever it was as she was at hand-to-hand. That would be depressing. But she'd still learn it, even if she never got good enough to use it in combat.

She'd thought about it in passing while reading her father's letter, but now she was almost positive that her abilities in Yin Release came from her mother. And if the Yakin could really use spiritual energy in creating something physical like a _sword_ without even being ninja, it sounded to her like some kind of advanced, highly-specific bloodline limit.

Tayuya enjoyed the feeling of having something that was truly proof that she was part of a clan. That she belonged. And Shu had said he'd actually _gifted_ her his life force. That implied that she had the potential to live as long as a full-blood Uzumaki. Which connected her tightly with that side of her parentage as well.

And to think, only two days ago she had been without a last name. Clanless. And now she had not one, but _two_ that she had inherited legacies from.

The green-haired girl seemed to read her mind. "So, Tayuya _Uzumaki_." She couldn't stop herself from grinning even wider at hearing Fu say her name like that. "Are you going to try and live up to what your dad asked? Learning sealing and stuff?"

She nodded. "Fuck yes. Even if it takes me forever." And even if she was kinda scared of it right now.

Fu looked at her quizzically for a moment, before smiling. But it had a hint of sadness and longing to it. "You're really excited about all this, aren't you?"

Tayuya struggled to think of a reply that wouldn't end up with her foot in her mouth.

The green-haired girl shook her head. "You don't have to answer that. I know you are. I'm happy you're excited. And I don't want to make you feel bad about it. I can only imagine what discovering all of this after not knowing anything for 11 years was like."

Tayuya finally got something. "But, that doesn't mean I'm any better now because I suddenly have a clan and a bunch of stuff I can learn. You're a fucking _tank_. We both know that you could easily beat me without even breaking a sweat. Even if you didn't have Chomei, you'd be able to take me down before I could even start to get my flute out.

"And it's because of how much work you've done. I think that matters more than some kind of fancy clan ability. Especially the ones that make things easy. It just makes you complacent and arrogant. I _died_ because I was like that. Chomei only assists you and makes you better at the things you're _already_ good at. Which is a hell of a lot better, in my opinion. You remember that one day you explained the Hyuuga's Jūken to me? How it was based on an old hand-to-hand form that nobody _but you_ seems to know about?"

Fu nodded.

"They made all of their techniques revolve around their abilities. The Jūken is tailored for the Byakugan. And that isn't good. It makes them predictable and vulnerable, because they're all using the same style. Figure out the weakness of one technique, and you've found the weakness to all of their techniques, and the entire clan. But if you go in the other direction, and instead take what you _know_, and enhance it with the extra abilities you have, like a bloodline or your bijū chakra, the thing that you're strong at becomes even stronger, while your weakness might even disappear. Having something like a bloodline or clan ability doesn't mean you're automatically better." Tayuya stopped, hoping she had gotten her point across.

Fu looked at her weirdly and laughed. "Okay. But that really wasn't what I was talking about."

Ugh. Tayuya drooped. Her long-winded attempt at cheering the girl up had failed in its main purpose, but at least she had made her laugh. She'd settle for that.

Fu turned to the right and looked at her while they continued to stomp through the snow, before returning to look forwards. "I was talking about how you can relate to Takumi-san, since neither of you have known about the other for eleven years, but you can still immediately connect and be happy. Because you're family."

Oh. _Oh._ Fuck. What could she say? Tayuya had learned early on to avoid talking about the other girl's family at all costs. And the past day and a half and been nothing but her shoving the fact that she now had one in Fus' face.

_Not smart, dumbass._

Fu kept looking forward, making it difficult for Tayuya to gauge her emotions. "I'm just a little bit jealous. I'll get over it. I'm still really happy for you though."

"W-Well, you've got me, right? I'll always be here." That seemed like a safe response. Assuage her insecurities while giving her a different target to focus on.

Fu turned and beamed at her. "Yeah. _And_ I'm going to hold you to it." She jumped at Tayuya, and brought them crashing down into the wet snow. Tayuya could only shout "Shit!" in defense. Their tumbling ended with Tayuya on her back, staring at the blue sky, while Fu was laying on top of her, turned to the side and looking at the redhead's face because of the tube on her back, both of them breathing heavily.

"Fuuuuu. You got me _soaked_." Tayuya sat up and shoved the girl playfully into the snow to get her off her lap. Fu only laughed brightly in response. The redhead stood up and started brushing herself off. Fu sat up and started doing the same, before standing up and finishing with her legs. "C'mon, I think I see a sign."

The sign post actually did have markings for Haboro, and indicated it was less than an hour away. The sun slowly dried them off from Fu's impromptu attack, and by the time they reached the first signs of civilization, the high sun was baking them in their jackets, while the wind attacked any skin that was exposed. There was just no way to win.

But they finally made it.

* * *

Haboro was a small town, and almost entirely residential.

In the center of it, there were two main streets, which is where all of the businesses were. And so, that's where Tayuya and Fu had gone, trying to see if they could possibly learn anything. They had managed to find a samurai outpost, presumably for peacekeeping, and had ended up just asking them for directions, reasoning that if Takumi was as well known by the samurai as Shu had implied, then they would at least have _some_ idea.

And they had. The pair that the girls had talked to had actually been able to give them fairly detailed directions, explaining that they usually got people looking for him once or twice a month. Tayuya committed their instructions to memory, and they left the town, walking towards the mountains to south-west for about thirty minutes before coming to a large swath of forest with a single path that wound its way through the snowy expanse of trees. And after twenty minutes of trudging through the (relatively) shallow snow, it brought them to a moderate-sized two-story house.

It was made entirely of wooden logs, and Tayuya got the feeling that the timber had come right from the forest around them, A much smaller second building sat a ways behind it and to the left, and she figured that had to be the forge.

"We-We made it." The reality of the situation sunk in with the force of a sledgehammer. Ever since the Shu's book had appeared, everything that had happened had almost felt like a dream, one that she could wake up from at any moment. But now, she would be meeting someone she'd never known (well, supposedly couldn't remember), who either would or would not know her, immediately validating this entire thing… or not. And she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little apprehensive. But she had to know.

They walked to the front door, and Tayuya reached out to knock on it, but hesitated and stopped.

"What's wrong?" Fu asked

"I… What if he doesn't like me? What if he's not happy with what I've been doing? Fuck, _I'm_ not happy with what I was doing." Fu was silent and Tayuya only heard the slight rustling of water-proof fabric. Fu's arms came around her shoulders, hugging her from behind, her cheek resting on Tayuya's shoulder blade right above her bag.

"I think you shouldn't worry. If it happens, it happens. But like you told me earlier, I'll be here for you no matter what."

Tayuya nodded. Right. She would have Fu. And Fu would have her.

Fu released her hold, and stepped back, boots crunching in the snow. The redhead reached her hand out again, and rapped sharply on the door.

For a while, there was no response. So she knocked again. A loud voice shouted "I'm coming, I'm coming."

A lock clicked out of place and the doorknob turned, the door swinging open on well oiled hinges.

A grey-haired man with a soft face appeared from behind it. He was shorter than she had expected, but still had all the muscle that she had seen in the photo. Clearly he was still in business.

His voice was gruff and scratchy from inhaling smoke. "Wasn't expecting anyone today. Who are yo–" He stopped, his eyes growing comically wide as they settled on Tayuya's face, roving over her face and hair.

"T-Tayuya?" He spluttered in shock.

She could only smile slightly in response. "Hey."

* * *

Tayuya sat on a couch in the living room or the 'main' room as Takumi called it. It was technically one large room that included an open kitchen and a dining area on the far side, and the part where she and Fu were now.

Fu was sitting in a comfortable-looking chair in front and to the right of her, in front of the fireplace, swinging her bare feet and toasting her toes. Tayuya smiled at the carefree attitude that she exuded, even if she knew it was mostly a show and that Fu was hiding her feelings of discontent in order to make Tayuya feel better. It was working.

Takumi had nearly broken her back hugging her at the front door, before looking around her at Fu and asking Tayuya who she was. She introduced Fu as a close friend, and saying that they'd traveled together because of her circumstances. Vague, but true.

He had invited them in out of the numbing cold, and the moment the door was closed they had discarded their jackets and snow pants and boots as the house was extremely warm. When Fu commented on it, he had laughed and said that he preferred it a bit hot because of how much time he spent at the forge, and that even though he had lived in Iron for almost thirty five years, he still hated how cold it could get.

Takumi was in the kitchen right now, preparing the three of them cups of tea, having offered as soon as they had taken off their coats. It was fairly modern, and included appliances she hadn't expected. Electricity was another thing she was surprised he had, and she wondered if he had somehow managed to get a underground line run all the way from town.

The older man exited the kitchen area, and walked over to give Fu her drink. The green-haired girl stood up to take it, and instead of sitting back down like Tayuya had expected, she walked over to where Tayuya was on the couch and sat down next to her. Takumi came over, handed her a hot cup (which she put on the table in front of her), and sat down in a chair across from them, the fire roaring and crackling in the background, heating the room

He looked at Tayuya and grinned widely. "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes. You certainly got your mother's looks. That's for sure." She blushed at the complement. Her mother had looked exceedingly beautiful in the photo. "You must've been what? just barely five? the last time I saw you. At Akiha's funeral." He sobered. "And then you and your father just… disappeared. I went to the house about three or four years later to see if something had happened, since you two weren't responding to any of the writing I sent. It was a mess. Looked like there had been a fire. And most of the stuff was there, but little bits, like the photos and Shu's things in the basement, were missing.

"But here you are. Right in front of me. What happened to you? Where's Shu?"

Tayuya shifted uncomfortably. The topic of her father and her role in the accident she had caused was still haunting her. Thinking about how it had been _her_ fault he was dead. All her fault.

Takumi was sitting there, waiting for an answer. She couldn't look him in the eyes. "There was an accident. A sealing accident." she said softly.

His face went grave. "And- And he died?"

She nodded hesitantly. He ran a hand over through his hair, wide-eyed in shock. "Ahhh. Gods, Shu. What the hell were you doing? I always told him that those seals would be death of him. But I was only joking about how hard he worked on them. He was so careful. How- how did it happen?"

Urgh. She wanted to crawl into a ball and hide somewhere. How was she supposed to tell him that it had been her? That the only reason his son-in-law was dead was because of _her_ childish stupidity? _Her_ ignorance?

She looked at Fu, trying to put off answering as long as possible. The girl sat there, slightly blank faced. This family reunion-thing was _not_ doing anything good for her. As she looked, Fu's eyes brightened slightly and moved, settling on Tayuya's face. They became considerably warmer, and the redhead tried to draw strength from that look, knowing it was the best way Fu could comfort her right now, feeling out-of-place and awkward. The redhead knew _she_ would if she was in the other girl's shoes, so she didn't blame her.

Tayuya turned back to Takumi. She needed to tell him. He had the right to know what happened. "I-It wasn't him." She took a breath. "It was me. I was the one who caused the accident." The bladesmith looked at her silently, and she was unable to tell what he was thinking. "I-I don't really know what happened, but I somehow got a hold of some of Tou-san's supplies. A-and. Well." She laughed hollowly, trying to hide her growing anxiety. It sounded fake to her ears. "A seven-year old trying sealing without knowing anything…" she trailed off, hoping that would be enough.

He appeared to accept it, and stared forlornly into the fire, sighing. "Well. That's a real shame. He was a good man, your father. One of the kindest I've ever known. But… how? How could that have happened?" He looked lost, unable to comprehend it. "I thought that after my daughter died, he wouldn't have let you leave his sight, trying as hard as he could to make sure you grew up happy even though Akiha wasn't there anymore, _because_ she wasn't there anymore. Taking care of what had been the most important thing to her: you." His voice held deep sadness and sorrow.

He looked back at her, his face suddenly shifting to understanding. "But it went the other way didn't it? He buried himself in his seals because he couldn't handle the loss." Tayuya couldn't respond.

Takumi shook his head sadly. "I-I should have known. I should have known he'd do that. It was what he did after Uzushio fell. After he lost his family. But I thought you would be enough that he wouldn't fall into that. That he wouldn't, because of you. But… it just must've been too much for him." A tear crept down his face. "I'm so sorry. So sorry. Maybe, maybe I had just come to visit more, or even moved down there to live with you, this never would have happened. I should have known. He and Akiha were so close. Inseparable. And I should have known he wouldn't be able to handle it."

"I-it's not your fault." Tayuya said quietly. "It's no one's fault." she told him, even though she still didn't believe that in her heart. But it was what he seemed to need to hear, because he drew himself up, nodding, and wiped away at the trail on his cheek.

"Right. You're here. You're safe. And that's what matters. It's so good to see you, mago-chan." He looked at her, laughing with wet eyes.

He noticed the seal on her hand, and smiled fondly at it. "It was you, wasn't it? In the accident. You got hurt. And he did the same thing his shishou did on Uzu, sacrificing himself in some way for you to live on, giving you everything he had at the same time." She started getting uncomfortable at how accurate his reasoning was. "But it's the only thing that makes sense. And if there was any way he wanted to go out, I know it would have been that. Saving you somehow with his own life."

She nodded slowly in affirmation. "A-After the accident, I lost all of my memory. I can remember living with an old lady for a couple months, but those are my earliest memories. She died, and I-" She didn't want him to judge her. Didn't want him to know her past and be disappointed in her.

He sat quietly, waiting for her to go on. He was her grandfather, right? Family? But she didn't know what that meant. Could she trust him? Would he accept her despite everything she did?

"It's okay, mago-chan. You don't need to tell me right now if you don't want to."

Tayuya shook her head. If she didn't do it now, she wasn't going to do it ever. "I ended up on the streets of Tanzaku Gai. I was there for three years." She drew her legs up to her chest, unconsciously trying to put something in between herself and her grandfather to make it easier.

"A man found me. A not nice man." _Yeah, that's one way to say it. More like an absolutely depraved, sociopathic man._ "He noticed me because I was unconsciously using Yin Release to help get food. It seemed like the best option was to go with him… but I would have been better off on the streets."

She stopped, afraid to go on, afraid to tell him of the terrible things she had done. But she needed to. Needed to keep going.

"I became a ninja. But not a good one. Not one of the ones who protect people. I did terrible things for him. Things I wish I could forget. Tasks I wish I could have refused. But he had a seal on me. An altered slave seal. And I couldn't say no to anything." She hugged her legs tightly.

"But somehow, the seal got removed. I don't know how. But I decided to escape. So I ran to Waterfall, hoping I could survive long enough to find a job or something so I could eat and sleep. I found this couple in the capital, who took me in, and treated me like I was their daughter. It felt so different to anything I could remember. And I knew I'd made the right choice." Tayuya smiled slightly at the memories of their doting kindness. It was getting easier to talk, now that she was past the worst of it.

"The man, Shin, was able to get me a job in Takigakure. So I went and worked there for a while, and ended up meeting Fu and becoming friends with her. We got really close." Completely attached was more like it.

Tayuya's thoughts got a bit darker. "The village was treating her like a pariah. She was an outcast. So when I found out that you were living in Iron two days ago, I convinced her to come with me. And that's how we're here."

He sat there silently, and then started talking quietly, carefully. "I want you to know. That no matter _what_ you've done, you will always be welcome here. It's the least I can do. And it's the only way to help ease my conscience about what happened. If only I had-" he shook his head. "No. You're here. You're alive. And that's what matters."

"Yeah." Tayuya whispered.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the crackling and popping of the logs in the hearth the only audible sound in the room.

And then Takumi abruptly slapped his thighs, deciding to try and lighten the mood for both of their sake. "So! I don't really have much to say. I've been living here, same as I did when Shu and Akiha were here. Doing the same thing, making swords for samurai. Managed to make a pretty good living doing it.

"And I've got one for you too, well two now. Did you know that? I figure Shu might've mentioned it in whatever he left you that led you here. You know anything about why?" This would be a much happier topic than the one they had just been on.

Tayuya nodded slowly. "J-Just a little. A clan tradition?"

"Yup. Well, I can explain it more in-depth, then. And tell you some of the history at the same time. Alright." He nodded to himself. "We'll start at the beginning."

She settled in for the lecture, glancing at Fu and bumping her with her shoulder to get her attention when Tayuya noticed the green-haired girl had a bit of a dazed look. It didn't really do anything. She gave up on rousing her, and turned back to her grandfather.

"About three hundred years ago, three bladesmiths met each other. Isamu, Masaru, and Hideki. They were some of the best of their time, and each thought that keeping their techniques secret and only teaching one or two apprentices was leading to the loss of the old ways of forging, and that in time the world would forget those practices. In order to make sure that wouldn't happen, they formed a clan. A clan where the techniques would be passed down, not from master to apprentice, but from generation to generation. That clan was the Yakin."

That… was actually pretty smart. As each successive generation got larger, the techniques would get passed onto more people, and force them to become more and more skilled before they would be recognized for the quality of their work.

"For seventy years, our clan moved around, place to place, following the demand of our weapons. Until the head of the Uzumaki clan at the time, Kiyoshi Uzumaki, saw one of our swords. He was so amazed by the quality and craftsmanship that he personally searched for who had made it, and when he found our nomadic clan, he offered to give us a permanent home on Uzu. The Yakin would be protected and always have a demand for work, and the Uzumaki would always have weapons they could use. We accepted the offer, and migrated to Uzushio where we would remain."

A stereotypical win-win situation. The ideal alliance, where both sides benefited with none to minor drawbacks.

"Nobody really knows when we started having such a strong connection to spiritual energy. But based on records it looks like it started showing up around the third generation of the clan, and almost all of the fifth generation had it. And it's only gotten stronger with time. The tradition of making a birth-blade and gifting it on their coming of age was established around then. It's said that because a baby has never done anything, their soul is at its purest, and so anything that reflects their spirit also reflects their deepest qualities.

"But yours" he gave a look at Tayuya. "did things I've never ever heard of." He shook his head. "I'll talk about it after I give them to you, since it'll make more sense. The clan believed that the best bladesmith is the one who knows both how to forge and how to wield. And it's practical beyond that. Even if the kid doesn't end up being a smith, they'll still know how to protect themselves. There's a bit of symbolism to it, too. But we'll also cover that when I give them to you.

"In the meantime, how about I tell you about your parents? Hmmm. Let's see…"

Tayuya sat up straighter, her previous discomfort slowly dissolving. She was eager to hear anything about her family, and what it had been like before everything had fallen to pieces.

"After the invasion, Shu was really lost. Losing his family and his shishou hit him hard. Akiha was the only thing that ever seemed to get him out of his shell, but even then it took him a couple years to start acting normal again. They did just about everything together. Well, except for Shu's seals. Neither of us could make heads or tails of the stuff he did with those. Akiha would usually be helping me in the forge when he worked on that. Which was a lot of the time. She got pretty good because of that.

"But Akiha usually managed to drag him out of his room at least once a day for sparring. Oh, that front room's the dojo. They both did kendo training. Akiha was really good with a sword." he said proudly. "She'd beat him four out of five times, and he always came back groaning. She could've been a good samurai, but she said she didn't want to do it 'cause she didn't want to stand out in the cold all of the time, but _I_ think it was really because she didn't want to leave Shu all alone." He laughed.

"I don't know if it was her whacking him over the head all of the time or what, but Shu fell in love with her. It was so cute watching him fumble around whenever he saw her after that." Takumi smiled at the memory. "And Akiha _knew_ something was up, because until then they'd been like peas in a pod. So she eventually she just told him to spit it out, and when he told her how he felt, all she replied with was 'I know, you idiot. What took you so long to figure it out?'."

Takumi laughed again, and Tayuya chuckled at the mental image. It sounded like she would've gotten along with her mother really well.

"They were good for each other. Shu was always laughing and smiling around her, and she would always be in a good mood after spending time with him. Eventually, he asked her to marry him. They had a little ceremony done down in town, with just the three of us, but it was the thought that counted.

"After a couple months they decided they wanted to move out, out of Iron, which I can understand. They were about twenty at that point, so they were itching for some independence. And they eventually wanted to have a kid, but thought that growing up in Iron would be terrible, not to mention there're almost no other people around, nor is there much room for raising a child here. So, they decided to go to Grass Country, and they settled down a ways away from a village, bit bigger than this one, and built a nice house with Shu's fancy basement and everything.

"Shu was making seals and selling them to ninja stores, and Akiha actually did some bladework, but it was more knives and stuff that she'd sell to shops in the village. And then when they were about 28, they had you. Less than a year after you were born, war broke out again."

Tayuya knew which one that was. "The Third Shinobi War."

"Right. Damn war lasted almost three years. And they were smack dab in the middle of it. Iwa invaded Grass and kept fighting with Konoha on the eastern border. Not an environment they wanted to be raising a kid in. But since they lived in the south, nearer to Rain, and their house was fairly remote, everything turned out okay. After the war was done, I came down and lived with you guys for a couple months, since they had made me promise not to try and visit while it was still going on.

"That was a lot of fun. So the next year when I came down I stayed for a month." Those times must have been where the photo in her father's book came from. "And then about eight months later, Akiha got sick. After the first three days, they managed to get a doctor to visit them and take a look at her, and all he could tell them was that her organs were failing, and he had no idea why, or what he could do to stop it. And three days later, she passed away.

"Everything after that was just sad and miserable, and I don't want to dredge up things like that when it's in the past. The important thing is, you're safe and you're here. And you're welcome to stay here as long as you want. Your friend too." he said, nodding at Fu.

Tayuya turned to look at her and see how she was doing. She still looked a little out of it, so the redhead reached up and put her hand on the girl's shoulder to try and get her attention. Fu jumped, and Tayuya jerked back in surprise.

"Whoa. Everything's fine. I was just trying to see if you were alright."

"Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking." the green-haired girl said evasively.

Tayuya just nodded in response, fully aware of how awkward and uncomfortable this probably was for her.

"Who's ready for lunch? I know I am. You guys want any soup?" Takumi asked as he stood up.

Soup sounded _wonderful_ after being in the cold for nearly a day. "Yeah, that'd be great. You want any?" she asked Fu.

The girl nodded slowly. "She'll have some too." Tayuya told Takumi.

"Alright, soup for three."

* * *

Lunch was good.

The soup was a thick ankake udon with beef and some mushrooms and vegetables.

It was _very_ tasty. Especially in contrast to the shinobi rations and energy bars they'd been eating while they were traveling

Tayuya slumped back with a contended sigh, the warmth inside her spreading out to her limbs.

"So! How do you want to do this?" Takumi asked.

"What?" Tayuya asked dumbly. What was he talking about?

"Your blades! They're four years late, after all. Well, that was probably for the best, all things considered. But still! Hm… I think the dojo would be best. Ah, but don't worry about changing your clothes into something fancy or anything. It's more about the symbolism of the thing." he said, standing up to clear the table. "Why don't you girls go on ahead. I'll meet you out there once I've got 'em." He took their dishes into the kitchen then walked away down the hall to the other side of the house.

"Uh. O-okay." He seemed really determined to give them to her. Then again he _had_ been holding onto them four years longer than tradition said. So maybe it was to be expected.

She turned to Fu. "I-I know how hard all of this is for you. You don't have to be there if you don't want to."

Fu shook her head and smiled. "It's okay. It's important to you, so I'll be there." Ba-dump.

Tayuya looked away from her. What? Why did that make her chest feel tight?

"W-Well, come on then. Let's go." she said, getting up from the table, and walking down the same hall Takumi had gone down. A landing and stairwell were right above the entrance of it, which had to go to the second floor. She walked down the hallway, looking for the door. He said the dojo was the front room, so it should be around here, somewhere.

An large traditional shoji door was open on her left. It looked extremely out of place with the rest of the building. Inside was a room with a polished wood floor. It was smallish, but still large enough that it could accommodate a pair of people sparring with one of the shinais that sat in the rack over on the far wall. Three windows were set in the wall across from the door, and bright white-tinted light reflected into the room from the snow outside.

Tayuya moved to the center of the room, Fu trailing behind her, and sat down in seiza since it seemed appropriate for the room. Her leg muscles strained in protest at the uncomfortable position that she usually avoided. Fu copied her, sitting about a foot back and to the right of her. They faced the wall in the direction of the main room, and a few seconds later Takumi entered, carrying a wooden box.

He sat down in front of Tayuya about three feet away, facing her, and set the box down to the right of him, undoing the clasps and lifting the lid off, revealing two things that were she couldn't see because of the distance, the sides of the box hiding them in shadow.

"Alright. We got some oaths and stuff to do. Clan induction and all. Let's see if I can remember them. It's been about forty years since I had to participate in one of these." He cleared his throat, his face becoming serious.

"Tayuya Yakin-Uzumaki. We are gathered here to recognize your coming-of-age, reaching adulthood in the eyes of the clan."

_There's not really much of a _'_we_'_._ she thought. _It's just you, me, and Fu._

"On the eve of your birth, a blade began to be forged, showing the person you would become today. It is a baring of your soul, a purest distillation of your true qualities. We do this because a bladesmith must know themselves completely, both strengths and weaknesses, advantages and flaws, before they can say they are worthy to stand by our side at the forge. Do you accept this knowledge and the burden it may bring?"

He looked at her for a response. Well, she knew what the _right_ response was. Did she really want to do all of this? Did she even have a choice? She didn't think she did. But she wanted this right? This is what she had always wanted. A clan. And here it was. So there was only one thing to say.

"I do." Tayuya spoke firmly.

"A bladesmith cannot focus on one thing completely. For there to be perfection, there must also be imperfection. Imperfections provide flexibility to a blade that would otherwise be brittle. Hard metal must be combined with soft metal. Everything must have a balance. A smith must be one who is in harmony with all facets of the blade, not just in forging, but also in wielding, seeking to be balanced in all ways possible. Do you understand your duty to seek out and find the balance in life that you require to become a smith worthy of our forges?"

Balance. A tenuous position only maintained through precision and care. Too much of one thing, and everything would be upset. But what was her balance? What were the things that she needed to moderate? What were the things she needed to develop? Was it things like her fighting style, moving away from long-range specialties to more well-rounded techniques? But what other things in her life needed balance? She had a feeling that it would take a _long_ time to find the answer to that question. But it would also make her a better, stronger person. She just hoped she could do it.

"I do." she answered him.

"A bladesmith must always care for themselves. Just as you will maintain your birth-blades, so too must you care for yourself, in mind, body, and soul, not permitting yourself to become tarnished and corrupted. Do you promise to always tend to yourself, not allowing yourself to fall into disrepair and decay?"

Wow. There was a lot of subtext there. Incorruptibility. Promises of trying to live a healthy life, in just about every way that mattered. A lot of shinobi focused only on their body. Tayuya's body was small, underdeveloped, and not very strong. So she had focused on her mind, playing tactical games and studying hundreds of battles and wartime strategies, trying to give herself an advantage over the more muscular boys that had surrounded her. And it had paid off. But this was like the balance thing, wasn't it? You couldn't focus too much on something without another, unless you were prepared for the consequences.

But there were other things in there. Like you shouldn't grow lazy and complacent. To be prepared for anything, and always take care of yourself.

These promises were really complex for such short statements. But then again, they _had_ been developed over the course of 200 years.

"I do."

"A bladesmith values family and friendship above all else. Our family, true friends, and allies are the ones who will always be by our side, supporting us in the heart of the forge even when they cannot be there themselves, and thus, we must do the same for them. Do you vow to stand by them so long as you live, pledging your metal and blades to their cause?"

Tayuya turned and looked at Fu behind her, who locked warm eyes with her, smiling slightly in encouragement. Her best friend. And then she turned back at Takumi. Her family. She thought of Shin and Yomi, the two people who had helped her even when they weren't required, who had been her first taste of kindness. Her allies.

There was no decision here. No questioning. She had already made this choice in her heart.

"I do."

"Then, I am proud to introduce Tayuya Yakin-Uzumaki as an adult in the Yakin clan. May your forge burn bright."

Takumi let out a big sigh, deflating. "Not that there's really any of us left." It seemed like the serious part was over now.

"Alright. Usually after that bit, there'd be a formal introduction of the blade between who was getting it and whoever made it. But I'm not one for formalities, and that just about wore me out. So we're going to do this normally." He switched from seiza to cross-legged, and Tayuya mimicked him, glad to be out of the awkward position. Takumi waved at Fu, motioning for her to come over. "Normally it'd be just the two of us because of some of the stuff it could reveal, but I figure you two're close enough from what I've seen that that isn't necessary."

The green haired girl stood up, walked over to them, and sat back down, so that three of them were positioned in a loose triangle shape.

"So. You've got two blades. Which wasn't really that rare, all things considered. In fact it's pretty normal compared to a couple of the things I've seen. There was a pair of twins who both got pole-arms. And one girl with a whip-blade. That was a weird weapon. But usually, they're swords or knives of some sort. So you were pretty normal."

He reached into the box at his side, and pulled out a straight white wooden shape that she assumed was a sword in a sheath. Tayuya couldn't really make out much of the other details because of how he was holding it.

"When you were born, I made this blade. _Mikoto_, the Beloved One." He pulled the blade out slightly, giving her a glimpse of the bright steel inside, but only enough so that she could see the dark '命' that was engraved on the flat of it, and then he hid the blade completely, still holding it so she couldn't see much. Maybe he was doing it as part of the explanation or something.

"I knew it meant that you would be loved dearly, held close within every heart you touched, and that you would become important in someway, whether that was only to a few people or the whole world is something we'll probably never knew. The name certainly seemed to fit, 'cause I never saw a child that was as loved as you were, by your parents, by me. But then you and Shu disappeared…" He trailed off before continuing.

"Anyways, the person who forges the blade always has some kinda connection to it since it's their creation, even if that connection's much smaller than the person it was forged for. So it was really obvious to me that something was off with the blade, because it felt so different. Our souls and spirits never _change_, but they can be expressed in different ways, kinda like the different aspects of a god. Like how Susano'o is both a god of the storms and a god of the seas.

"Blades can change names, especially after something traumatic happens, but yours became _nameless_. It was just… blank. Like it was lost. Now that I know you forgot everything, it makes a lot of sense. I don't think I've heard of anyone with a birth-blade having complete amnesia. But since the blade changed, I knew you had to be alive somewhere.

"And then four years later, after I had almost given up hope, it got its name back. _Mikoto_. But it felt kinda twisted, somehow, like the tone had become sarcastic and ironic."

Tayuya's mind connected the dots and she interjected. "_Arrogance_. It was reflecting my arrogance and pride." He looked interested in her explanation, so she went on. "That was the kind of person I became after losing my memories. My favorite saying even used to be 'I alone am exalted', where exalted can be written with 'mikoto'. I knew that some people used it as an insult, but I used to think that that it was significant somehow, the perfect representation of how I felt, and that because of that, I was above the negative meaning it had associated with it. Which was pretty conceited in retrospect, and just goes to show how bad my pride really was.

"Now that phrase just seems so… self-centered and shallow. But it must be why the blade felt like that to you. Because I had changed from someone worthy of being loved to someone who thought they deserved it." she concluded.

"Hm." Takumi nodded. "That makes sense. Well, anyways. Nothing happened after that for a while. Your fourteenth birthday came and went, and I was afraid that something may have happened to you. But for four years I've kept polishing and maintaining the sword, hoping you were still out there. And then two and a half months ago, it changed again."

Two and a half months. That was when the fight had been. When she had died. When she had lost the curse seal. The hair on the back of her neck started to rise, and she wondered what she was anticipating. What was making her feel so antsy.

"Even though a blade can't change physically, and so changing names always just means changing pronunciations, what happened here is still really different. More different than any other name changes I've heard of other blades going through. This sword." He trailed a hand over the white sheathe. "This sword is now _Inochi_."

Life. Its name was Life.

Tayuya's spine was tingling. She was almost vibrating, itching to take the sword from her grandfather's hands, as though it _had_ to be in hers, where it belonged.

"You changed so much, that the very _meaning_, the core of what it represents about you, became different." He shook his head in disbelief. "Minor shifts aren't unheard of, but I have never known a blade to change like this.

"And not only that, but I felt like I had to make a second blade after seeing this one. Compelled almost. I couldn't get it out of my head. I have never _imagined_ that a person could gain another birth-blade later in life. But it seems like you did."

She cut in. "I died." He halted, thrown completely off-guard by her statement. "The first time it changed was probably because I lost my memories. But this second time. I died. For real. A no-chance of survival death, crushed under tree trunks almost as wide as I am tall. And yet somehow, I lived, and now I have this ridiculous ability that lets me heal from just about anything."

He was visibly shocked, but managed to recover from it smoothly. "Wow. That's a new one. Definitely never heard of that before either. You'll have to show me that healing thing later. But… it would certainly explain the second sword. So it's technically not a birth-blade…" he said to himself, replacing the light-colored sword in the box. Tayuya's sense of needing to hold it got stronger, but she pushed it aside for now.

Takumi pulled a straight, dark-looking scabbard out of the box instead.

"This." He frowned. "This is not a nice sword. If the other one is warm and bright, and a representation of life, then this one is cold and dark, and represents–"

"_Death_." Tayuya finished for him. It was the only thing it could be. The only thing that felt right to her. In her bones.

He nodded. "Yeah. Its name is _Shi_. He opened the scabbard slightly and showed her a silvery-white character, '死', engraved on a dark blade before clicking it shut again."And unlike your other one, there's no other meaning it could possibly have. It's a symbol of one thing, and one thing only. Death."

Tayuya was getting the tingling feeling in her spine again, her arms aching to reach out and touch it, but he returned it to the box. It felt like being teased in the worst way.

Takumi sighed. "Now that we've got the heavy, important stuff, the meanings, out of the way, I can tell you about some of the lighter stuff, like what they're made of, and the things you've gotta know about them." He pulled the whiter sword back out. But this time, instead of holding it in a way she couldn't see it, he held it out to her, both palms open and cradling it.

She reached out and grasped the scabbard; holding it felt like fire rushing up her arm. Eventually the fire died down to a dull, comfortable warmth. But it also felt like something was missing. Something fundamental. She pushed the feelings aside momentarily and looked down at the sheathed sword in her hands.

The scabbard was very light-colored. Almost snow-white. But not quite. A pattern of black vines and leaves were inlaid into the flat sides, trailing down from the hilt. The hilt itself continued the oblong shape of the scabbard, and was wrapped in black thread, diamonds formed from the winding pattern, but through the diamonds she could see the same white color as the sheath.

She put her hand around it, testing how it felt. The hilt fit perfectly in her hand, her palm on one edge while her fingers curled around the other. The thread created a surface that she would have no trouble gripping onto even if her hands became sweaty while fighting

"The scabbard, and the hilt, are made of bleached ash wood. 'Bout the whitest thing you'll come across other than ivory or bone. The sword reminds me of a jian in shape, but there's no pommel and it's fairly short. And there's no guard at all." He eyed Tayuya. "That probably says something about you." Fu started giggling, the first noise she had made since they had come into the room. Tayuya almost jumped, startled at the outburst from the girl she had thought was just tuned out.

"What is it? What's so funny?"

Fu eventually calmed her laughter in order to respond. "You're _very_ unguarded and open. Ever since I met you, I could tell what you were thinking just by looking at your face. Not that it's a bad thing, just different in a good kind of way. It's part of what makes you who you are, and it's one of the things I like so much about you."

Tayuya felt her face heat up, and looked away from her, pouting slightly. "Whatever."

Focusing on the sword she was holding, she pulled the blade out with a soft ring. It was a delicate silvery-white, and seemed to shimmer in the light that came through the windows. It was symmetrical, tapering slightly and then ending in a point, with both sides of the blade having an edge. They looked _extremely_ sharp. But the thing that really hit her was how _perfect_ the sword felt in her hand. It was like it was part of her body: balanced and light, but not too light. A natural extension of her arm.

The blade itself was about one and a half times the length of her forearm. It had an engraved leaf-and-vine pattern running up and down the flat of the blade, starting just above the '命' that was inscribed near the hilt, similar to but not exactly the same as the inlay on the scabbard. But instead of black, the engraving only appeared darker than the surrounding metal because of how the light was unable to reach inside the decoration at certain angles.

Takumi resumed his commentary. "The design lends for stabbing and slicing in the dominant hand. It's unreasonably sharp, one of the sharpest things I've ever made, and since it was polished and sharpened while reinforced with Yin chakra, it won't ever lose that edge."

She placed the blade back in its sheath and laid it on her lap. It felt weird letting it go. Like it had to be in her hand. But the feeling wasn't as bad as before when Takumi had had it or when it had been back in the box. Maybe because it was touching her.

Takumi pulled the other sword out of the box and held it out to her. If the first blade had given her a feeling of fire and then warmth, this one gave her a sensation of ice in her arm that settled down to coolness.

Where the other had been white, this one was black. The polar opposite of the one that sat on her lap. Instead of leaves, there were little marks protruding off of white curvy lines, and Tayuya realized they were thorns. Thorns on a dead vine. The hilt was wrapped in bleached, snow-white thread, with the same diamond shapes in the grip showing black wood beneath it.

"The scabbard and hilt on this one are made of ebony, just like the inlay on the other. The blade on the other hand. Well, I can't really describe it."

She pulled the sword out of the sheath with her right hand. In comparison to the scabbard, this was _truly_ black. Jet. It seemed to absorb the surrounding light, not reflecting anything except in the engravings of the character '死' and a similar thorn-vine pattern that climbed the blade, appearing white in contrast to the surrounding darkness. Even the edges, which she expected to be silver from sharpening, were black. She looked closer at them. Were those–

"They're teeth. Teeth like you'd see on a pull saw. Made for tearing and ripping flesh, and sawing through bone. Not a clean weapon. You'll have to be careful taking care of it, as stuff will get stuck in them when you use it. You're _really_ lucky you don't have to worry about sharpening it. It'd be a nightmare."

Wow. That was _vicious_. She'd used a back-saw a couple times with Yamada, and this looked far more lethal than that had.

Takumi went on. "Oddly enough, it too lends itself to usage in the dominant hand, just with pull-strokes instead of stabbing. Makes me want to suggest that you practice with both swords in both hands, so you're able to switch between them depending on the situation. Whatever Shu gave you should at least have some basic two-handed styles that you can work with."

She sheathed the black blade and laid it next to the white one on her legs.

"Even if they won't lose their edge or rust, you still need to care for them. Just like in the clan oaths you just took. Oiling them, taking care of the hilt and scabbard, and cleaning the edges after getting them dirty are the bare minimum.

"Both scabbards are lined with hard metal, so you don't have to worry about harming them while drawing, unless you're _trying_ to not pull the blades out straight. And both them and the hilts have an epoxy finish, so they should be able to take on just about anything and come out looking fine. Water, dirt, etc. You can attach 'em to any of those straps you ninjas use for carrying stuff, so where you carry them is up to you."

Maybe she'd get some sort of cross-strap thing like Fu had for her tube. The redhead looked down at her chest. She hoped her breasts wouldn't get in the way. They were such a pain in the ass sometimes, even if hers were on the smaller end of the spectrum. Well, if Fu didn't have any trouble with the straps, Tayuya doubted _she_ would, considering the other girl's chest seemed to be only slightly smaller than hers.

That would probably end up being what she did, as something like a vest with clips on the back was too bulky for her tastes. She'd have to think about it. It wasn't like she could use them now, anyways. So for now, they'd probably go in a scroll in her bag. As long as she could get over the annoying tingling feeling and sense of extreme attachment to them.

She realized she had zoned out for a minute, and both Fu and Takumi were looking at her. She bowed over the blades on her lap. There was really only one thing she could think to say to him.

"Please accept my thanks for your generous gifts, Ojii-sama."

He smiled at her. "Of course. You're my only granddaughter, after all."

* * *

**A/N:**

I'm curious to see what you guys think of this. Cliché or no? If you think it is, was I at least able to twist it in a way that made it interesting?

The light sword is similar in color to cobalt (the metal, not the shade of blue). And the dark one is like vantablack. As in _really, really_ black, absorbing 99.965 of visible light/radiation.

Dual-wielding swords of that size is actually both possible and practiced. Butterfly swords (as used in a couple martial arts) are similar. Tayuya's swords are longer by about five or six inches, but the blades are much less wide and are reasonably lighter overall.

Now that we're here, I can say that Takumi is the last OC we're going to be seeing in-depth for _quite_ a while. I'm so excited to get to characters we know and love (well, besides Tayuya and Fu). It only took us, what, ten chapters and 80,000 words? Holy shit.

If you're interested in some of the more obscure information about how that whole single-word, multiple-meanings Japanese character thing works, read the stuff after the break. Otherwise, just ignore it.

* * *

**Translations:**

_mago_: grandchild

_ankake udon_: large, chewy wheat noodles served in _dashi_ (that soup base made from bonito flakes, remember?) that has been thickened with potato starch, and flavored with soy sauce and _honmirin_. Typical additions include egg, mushrooms, green beans, _negi_ (spring onion), carrots, shrimp, snow peas… yeah. Lots of different stuff. Meat's a bit rarer, but I've seen some variations that have it.

* * *

**Tayuya's Sword Names (or Kanji Readings 101)**

Chinese literary culture was brought to the Japanese by missionary Buddhist monks and trading throughout the millennia. Originally, Chinese was used as 'high' language, with only a small population knowing how to read and write it, much like Latin was in western cultures. But after a few different writing systems using Chinese characters (kanbun, man'yogana), kanji and kana evolved to become what they are today, finalized by a number of Japanese script reforms in the early to mid 1900s.

But this adoption created problems, since Japanese and Chinese aren't very similar. So sometimes, a character is read (approximately) as it would have been pronounced in Chinese, while other times the Japanese associated a native word for what the character meant. These different readings are known as on'yomi and kun'yomi, respectively. And there can be a number of each per character.

Tayuya's phrase, 唯我独尊 (yuiga dokuson : I alone am exalted) is a shortened form of what legends say was said by Prince Siddhartha Gautama (the first Buddha before he was Buddha) as he was born: 天上天下唯我独尊 (tenjou tenga yuiga dokuson : In both the Heavens and the Earth, I alone am exalted.). The shorter version has gained a reputation of being used to refer to someone who is conceited and self-assured. Basically, Kishimoto was just really reinforcing that arrogance was Tayuya's main character trait and fatal flaw.

In that phrase, '尊' (exalted) has an on'yomi reading of 'son', which is used here since it's a traditionally Chinese phrase and is surrounded by other kanji. This character is considered a more complex (fancier) form of '命', both sharing a kun'yomi reading of 'mikoto' and meaning either 'beloved' or 'exalted, honorable'. It's usually used to refer to someone important (like an emporer), which Takumi took to mean to the people that Tayuya interacted with.

But '命' has a second kun'yomi reading, 'inochi', which means life, or more literally 'the concept of life, the state of being alive', since the English word 'life' could also be written as '生活' (seikatsu : daily, physical life) or '人生' (jinsei : a person's life, their lifetime).

Additionally, '命' has its own on'yomi reading: 'mei'.

_Destiny_.

Ha. Ha. MUAHAHAHAHAHAH. *cough* eh-hrm.

Remember, a soul is always fundamentally the same. It only expresses itself differently.

So just because the spoken name and primary meaning of the sword changed, doesn't mean all of the others don't apply…

I think I did a pretty good job of describing the important stuff in the story, but this is just some extra info in case you were interested.


	11. Allies and Enemies

**Disclaimer:**

Did any countries track or even seem to _care_ about the status of their jinchūriki unless they were fairly popular people as well? If not, I don't own Naruto, nor any of that universe.

* * *

**Chapter 11:**  
**Allies and Enemies**

"Please accept my thanks for your generous gifts, Ojii-sama."

Takumi smiled at her. "Of course. You're my only granddaughter, after all.

"So! We got a couple hours, anything you want to do before dinner? Maybe you can tell me some stories about what you've been up to in Taki? And how you met your friend?" he said, standing up. Tayuya got up with him, holding a sword in each hand, and Fu stood from her place beside them. Takumi started walking out the door towards the main room, waving for them to follow.

"Uh, sure. So, I worked with this guy named Yamada. He was literally the most boring guy I've ever met." They reached the living room, and Tayuya sat back down on the couch where she had been before lunch, Fu sitting next to her. The swords went in her lap to slightly alleviate the itchy tingling feeling whenever she wasn't touching them. "I helped him make traditional wooden masks for a festival, and then porcelain masks for ANBU after that. I actually learned a lot from it. Things I'll probably never use again, but I guess are kinda cool to know anyways. Like, I knew what you were talking about when you said that these scabbards have a resin finish. Because we used stuff like that." The redhead looked to her right at her friend. "I met Fu by kind of… um, seeing how she was treated by the village and trying to figure out why."

"More like you cornered the only other person I had contact with and demanded to know what was going on." Fu retorted in clarification. "Which made me look for you only because I was afraid you were going to end up making things worse."

Tayuya was a little embarrassed by that. She definitely could have gone about that better. With a bit more tact. "Well, it all turned out okay, right? So it's not that bad." She turned back to Takumi. "Anyways. I ended up inviting her over for dinner, and we started doing sparring practices in the morning and eating lunches together. We kinda just hit it off immediately, and everything developed from there." Takumi nodded in understanding.

"Well, you two definitely seem close. Almost as close as Akiha and Shu were." he said knowingly.

His implication flew right over her head.

"Haha, yeah. Maybe. But they were together for years, right? And we've only really known each other for a couple months. Though it does kinda feel like years to me." she responded. Fu 'hm'ed. "Either way, I think we both might have just needed a friend." _Though maybe Fu a bit more than me._

"I see… well, I'm glad you're doing well. And you seem pretty happy. Which is really all I care about." He scratched his chin. "Ah! Right. Before I forget, let me show you the rooms you can stay in."

He got up and Tayuya and Fu followed his lead, walking around the couch to the staircase behind them that went over the entrance of the hallway they had just come from. "There's only a couple rooms up here, but that's really all we needed when we built the place, and I suppose it works well for you two too." They climbed up the stairs after him, reaching the small square landing and turning left, and then ascending the few remaining steps to the second floor.

Takumi pointed at the door only a few in front of them and to the left. "So that was Shu's room originally, what with all of his sealing projects, and it's the one that they shared when they got married. And that one" he pointed to the door that was further away and to the right. "was Akiha's room. Neither of them have anything in them, so it's up to you who gets what room."

Fu spoke up. "You take your parents' room. I'll take the other one."

Tayuya nodded in acknowledgment. "Thanks." She knew the girl was only trying to be nice, but she was worried about her mental state.

"I'll let you two get settled in, you're probably a bit hankered with all of the traveling and excitement today. And I've got to go get dinner ready. Cooking for three's going to be bringing back memories, I can already tell." he said, walking down the stairs before they could say anything.

Fu yawned. "I'm going to go take a nap."

"O-okay." Yeah. She was _really_ worried now. At least when Fu showed signs of being uncomfortable, Tayuya could try and be supportive. But when she acted alright even when the redhead knew she wasn't, like now, Tayuya really had no idea what to do.

Maybe a nap would do her some good too.

* * *

A sharp series of knocks on the front door disturbed the trio while they were having dinner later that evening. Takumi excused himself from the table and walked towards the door, mumbling about so many unexpected visitors in one day. Fu and Tayuya kept quiet and listened, curious who it was.

The smith's muffled voice could be heard from the genkan next to the living-room area. "Mifune-sama! Please, come in! We were just having dinner."

Footsteps echoed, getting closer to the large room and the table they sat at.

Takumi came into view first, followed by another man. He looked old, his face lined with age. His beard, mustache, and hair were long and grey. Cloth was wrapped around his head. He wore old green samurai armor that looked like wooden shingles, and green bodysuit. A sword, what Tayuya thought might be a katana, was strapped to his back. But despite his apparent age, his posture and demeanor exuded pure confidence and strength. Who the heck was this guy?

Takumi gestured to the table "Please, sit. This is my granddaughter, Tayuya Yakin-Uzumaki, and her friend Fu." He turned to them. "This is Mifune, General of the Land of Iron." _General!?_ Why the hell was the general of the entire country visiting them during dinner? She _supposed_ he could know Takumi, but she also had a sinking feeling in her stomach. And that was never a good sign. Her mind kicked into overdrive, trying to figure out what was going on.

Her grandfather turned back to the man. "How is Kurosawa?"

Mifune seated himself to the left of Tayuya, at the end of the table. He smiled warmly in reply. "She is as fine as the day you forged her and gifted her to me, friend." Okay. So he had one of Takumi's blades. That wasn't too unusual, since her grandfather's reputation had gotten rather large with the samurai. But it still didn't explain why he was here _now_. And that persistent feeling of dread was steadily increasing. Tayuya bet Fu was feeling it even worse.

"Would you like something to eat? Or a drink? Tea?" Takumi asked, looking at Mifune.

The older man inclined his head slightly. "Tea would be nice." Takumi went to prepare a cup, the clinking of ceramic sounding in the large room from over the kitchen island.

Mifune turned and looked at Tayuya and Fu. Fu froze, as still as stone, and Tayuya swore she could hear the girl's heartbeat increase. In contrast, she herself was more becoming agitated by his piercing looks than nervous.

Takumi reappeared at the table with a steaming cup, handing it to the older man. He took a sip, smiling at the smith, and then let out a slight sigh.

"Unfortunately, I am here on official business." Mifune said wearily.

"Oh?" Takumi sat down. "What about?"

"Iron was contacted by Takigakure-"

Tayuya shot up, throwing her chair back, and slammed her hand on the table with a bang. She stood between the man and Fu protectively.

"I am _NOT_ letting them take her back to that _fucking __**shithole**_." she yelled.

They had just gotten her away from there! It hadn't even been 48 hours. How the fuck did they know Fu was deserting them already?

Mifune sat still, unperturbed. "Young lady, please, calm down, take a seat, and let me finish." he said, his voice calm, and yet feeling like the edge of a razor blade. She caught the implied _or else_. There was no sense of killing intent, but she know he could kill her before she moved an inch.

Keeping an eye on the man, and still standing in front of Fu, she grabbed her chair and moved it back to its spot before sitting down.

She looked over at the other girl for a moment. Fu was white as a sheet. _Fuck_. A stream of profanities ran through her mind. Tayuya reached out and grabbed one of the girl's hands, squeezing it and rubbing her thumb in circles, trying to calm her down and bring her out of the self-induced emotional shutdown she was in.

Tayuya turned back to glare at Mifune, who sipped at his tea.

"As I was saying. I was contacted by Takigakure about the location of their jinchūriki." Mifune pinned Tayuya to her seat with his eyes, despite the mass of things she wanted to spout in his face. "They were able to tell me that she was on this very mountain-side, within a two mile radius, but not _how_ they knew that, which disturbs me greatly. I only recognized the location immediately because of my contact with Yakin-dono." He nodded to Takumi.

"Girls." Tayuya caught Fu slightly turning her head out of the corner of her eye. "I am not your enemy. I do not wish to acquiesce to their demands and treat a human life, particularly one such as yours, like a mere bargaining chip. My concern is only for my country, and its best interests. Your presence, and Takigakure's demands, have put me in a very undesirable position."

"So what if she doesn't go back?" Tayuya snarled.

Mifune raised an eyebrow. "Then there will be trouble." That did not sound good for them. "Takigakure has threatened a trade embargo with the Land of Iron, and if that does not receive a result, war. Possibly escalating into the Fourth Shinobi World War, what with the rising tension between the nations."

Oh gods. Fuck. Shitshitshitshitshit.

"Both actions would take some time, as they need approval by the daimyo, but I have no doubt they would be approved. Do you understand the position I am in?"

Tayuya felt like an animal trapped in a corner. She did not enjoy it. "Do _you_ understand the shit she went through!? Her own _parents_ threw her out and told the whole village she was a demon. She had _one_ person that treated her kindly before I was there, and he couldn't even act that way in public because she was afraid he would be publicly shunned. They would lock her up forever, at worst extracting Chomei to put him in someone else, killing her. Going back is _not_ a fucking option."

Mifune looked at Fu. "Is this true?" Fu nodded her head silently.

His face became saddened at the confirmation. "I was aware of some of the prejudices against jinchūriki, but treatment such as that is far beyond what I had imagined."

He took a sip of tea.

"The Land of Iron is a neutral land. We do not become involved in shinobi wars. However, if provoked we will respond in defense. Iron is superior in military strength, but all sides will still suffer casualties if there is a war. Normally, you would be more than welcome to stay here. But, your status as a jinchūriki makes that impossible, as you are inherently intertwined with the politics of the shinobi nations.

"I cannot, in good conscience, send you back to such an environment. But I will if I must, for the sake of my country and its people."

Fu completely stilled at that, her fingers going limp in Tayuya's hand, and her breathing becoming shallow. Tayuya turned to look at her. Her pupils were completed dilated, and her face looked like paper. She was very clearly going into shock.

The gears in Tayuya's mind spun wildly. How the _hell_ could they get out of this steaming mess? Taki was gunning for Iron because of Fu, and Iron would have to respond.

But what if Fu wasn't _in_ Iron?

"Wait!" Tayuya yelled, turning back to Mifune. "What if we just left? Left Iron. So that they couldn't start a war or anything."

He looked at her, gauging her expression, and smiled like a teacher to a student who had just found the correct response to a particularly difficult koan. "If you did, we would have no choice but to inform Takigakure that I requested that you return, but you fled before we were able to apprehend you." His expression became serious. "However, there is still the fact that they were able to locate you so precisely, which is a matter of national security. I _need_ to know how that is possible."

"Shu probably could've done something like that with seals." Takumi interjected.

Seals! Why hadn't she though of that? Fuck. What if it was part of Fu's bijū seal?

"Would you excuse us for a moment?" she asked. Mifune nodded hesitantly.

Tayuya tugged on the hand that she was still holding, and dragged Fu upstairs to the bedroom Tayuya had taken. Her parents' bedroom. Flicking the overhead lights on, she moved the girl over to the bed and sat her down.

"Fu!" the green-haired girl was in a daze, her eyes glassy and emotionless.

"Fu!" She snapped her hands in front of her face. Nothing. She just wasn't there. What else she could do?

_Please, please, please don't get mad at me for this._

Tayuya slapped her. Not lightly either.

…It was probably going to leave a mark for a while.

"OW! What the hell, Tayuya!?" Holy shit. It actually worked. Weren't things like this only supposed to work in movies? Well, she'd take it

"You shut down. Completely. I need you to take your clothes off."

"W-what!?" Her face went from white to red so fast it was almost instantaneous.

"Well, actually, I need to know about that goddamn seal on you first. Is there anything in there that could locate you? Find you?" Tayuya backed up a bit.

Fu slowly shook her head slowly, confused. "It's just chakra transfer, and a bunch of things that tie it into my network so I can't remove it without dying."

"Alright. Then I _do_ need you to take your clothes off. You can keep your underwear on."

"B-but.." Fu spluttered.

"But what? We're both girls. And this is kind of really fucking serious, in case you haven't noticed. As in _could cause the Fourth Shinobi World War_ serious." They both sobered at that.

"F-fine. But I haven't seen anything weird in the mirror." She stood up from the edge of the bed, and started to take off her shirt.

"Even while you were channeling chakra?"

Fu shook her head. "I haven't really checked." She flushed again. "Stop looking and turn around. You're embarrassing me."

The redhead turned around. "What the hell does it matter anyways? I'm still going to be looking at you." But she still felt herself start to heat up at the rustling sound of clothes being taken off.

"It just does." Fu replied from behind her, quietly.

Why was Tayuya's face so warm? She didn't care about nudity. You got used to it when there was only one bath and four other guys. Sakon and Ukon looked like girls, anyways. _So why was she feeling so weird?_

"A-Alright, I'm done." Tayuya turned around. Fu had a simple pair of bright green panties and a bra on. Instead of letting her eyes rove over the girl's body like they were trying, she forced them to look at her face, and said the first thing that came to mind.

"Green? Really?"

"S-Shut up! They match my hair." Well, that was true. And Tayuya couldn't really comment. Her favorite underwear was red.

"Can you get on the bed?" she asked. "I'm afraid I'm going to miss something." Fu laid down wordlessly. "Alright, start channeling."

The seal on her midsection below her sternum showed up, and Tayuya started looking over every inch of skin for any signs of something foreign, clamping down on the strange roiling emotions and thoughts in the back of her head.

"This is really uncomfortable." Fu complained "If you're going to make me get undressed, you could have at least got me in the mood me first."

Tayuya flushed and looked up at the girl's face. Fu's eyes went wide and she became even more red, which the Uzumaki hadn't even thought was possible. "Did I say that out loud?" Tayuya nodded. "Just- just ignore that. Keep looking."

"O-okay." And anyways, it wasn't like she would _mind_ doing things like that with Fu. The green-haired girl was more than attractive enough. _Focus, Tayuya._ She shook her head, clearing her mind of the intruding thoughts, and focused on the girl's smooth, butterscotch-tone skin.

"I'm not seeing anything. Can you flip over?" she complied, and Tayuya continued the search over every inch of her back, which was definitely easier without the girl's orange eyes tracking her.

There was nothing. It was just skin. Where the _fuck_ could they have put something like that?

She backed up away from the bed to get a wider view. A flash of black glinted out of her eye, and she turned her head towards it. Fu's right foot.

"There's something here. It looks like a seal. On the heal of your right foot. No wonder you haven't ever seen it. I'd bet my ass it's what we're looking for."

"Then why did I need to get undressed!?" Fu shouted into the pillow.

She didn't really have a response to that. "Well, you can put your clothes on now."

Fu groaned, and lifted herself off of the bed, standing up. She hastily put her clothes back on, Tayuya looking away again automatically.

The two of them exited the room and headed downstairs, each unwilling to meet the other's eye.

Mifune and Takumi seemed to be discussing oils for polishing metal. Weird. Was this what blade fanatics did for fun?

Both of them turned towards the girls as they entered the room. The table had been cleared of food while they had been gone, most likely into the refrigerator. It had already gotten cold by the time they had left the table.

"We found a seal." Tayuya told them. "On her foot. I don't really know anything about seals, but that has to be it."

They sat down at the table, and Mifune eyed the red hand print on Fu's right cheek curiously.

"If we promise to leave Iron as soon as possible, can you to help us get it off?" the redhead asked him, praying that the answer would be yes.

"Officially, I can't do anything to assist _you_, as it would be seen as aiding a fugitive of another country… However, if we talk of removing the ability of a potential enemy that poses a serious security risk to _my nation_, I may be able to send a man who could do such a thing."

Urgh. Politics and fancy wordplay made Tayuya's head hurt. And it was only worse because of the strange thoughts and images of Fu that kept forcing themselves to the front of her mind. "Is that a yes?" She thought it was.

"Yes." _HELL yes._ She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. "I could send him here tomorrow. If you were to theoretically carry out such a plan as soon as possible, I would suggest traveling to the Land of Lightning, perhaps even joining Kumogakure, as their jinchūriki are revered as heroes."

Tayuya nodded. Lightning. Kumo. Got it.

Mifune smiled. "I am exceedingly pleased we were able to come to such a peaceful conclusion." He stood up. "I need to be going." He bowed to Takumi, who hastily stood up to return it. "Yakin-dono." He turned towards the girls, nodding his head "Uzumaki-san, Fu-san. Have a good night."

He walked to the front door, Takumi trailing behind him. As soon as she heard the front door close, Tayuya let out her breath in a large sigh. She collapsed onto the table bonelessly, her head banging against the surface.

"I fucking _hate_ politics." she said. "And Takigakure." she added as an afterthought.

Fu looked at her. "I'm not even going to say 'I told you so'."

Tayuya turned her head "If it weren't for that fucking seal on your foot, my plan would've worked perfectly. No trouble at all."

"I don't care. It doesn't matter now." Fu smiled at her, but it lacked her usual happiness, empty of feeling. "Everything's going to be fine."

"You know, I should be the one saying that to you." Tayuya became serious. "Fu, it really fucking scares me when you shut down like that. I'm afraid one day, I won't be able to get you back. You'll just be there, blank. Forever."

The girl looked down at her lap. "Sorry. It's… It's sort of become a habit."

Tayuya snorted. "Yeah, a _bad_ habit. We're not in goddamn Taki anymore. And I'm _not_ going to ever let them get you again. I promise."

Fu looked back up and smiled again. It held more warmth than before. "That's the second one now. Yesterday to never leave, and today to protect me. What else are you going to do?"

Tayuya shrugged, still on the table. "I dunno. At this rate we'll probably end up married." _Where the hell did that come from!?_ As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted saying it. Fu fell silent, and the redhead opened an eye to look at the girl and see what her reaction. She was frozen still. Tayuya decided to try and play off the weird response. "What? It was just a joke. Sorry if the thought of me being a wife is so scary."

Fu unfroze. "Nonono. But. Just." She struggled to voice a coherent thought. "I think you'd make a great wife!"

Tayuya was shocked, and her slight embarrassment disappeared. "Really? Cause I don't."

The green-haired girl nodded emphatically. "Yeah, you can cook really well. And, uh…" She trailed off, trying to think of other things.

"See? Not much." Not to mention her temper, her language, her inability to deal with young children. Yeah. She'd make a _great_ wife. Not that she wanted to be married. She couldn't even imagine a guy she would ever be that comfortable with. And she had a lot of things she wanted to experience before ever settling down like that.

"But still! I think you would." Fu chirped.

"Alright, alright. I get it. But I'm glad I was able to get you to cheer up." She smiled up at Fu. "Being cold and emotionless doesn't suit you at all."

The jinchūriki reddened a little. "T-thanks. I mean it. You're the first person that's even tried."

"Not even Sado?"

She shook her head. "Whenever I lost control of my emotions, I just put them in a box and went to my room until they stopped hurting. I talked to him about it afterwards, but by that point I was able to act like I was okay, even if I wasn't. He could tell, but he couldn't really do anything about it. Not like you."

Tayuya felt her chest warm up. It felt really good to be special like that to Fu. To be needed. To be truly _wanted_.

It was a something she wanted to keep feeling.

* * *

Fu had disappeared upstairs soon after, and a while later Tayuya went to go take a bath, expecting her to still be in there, but there was no sign of the girl.

She eventually just headed into her room. She thought the bed was uncomfortably large. Her nap on it had felt strange. But it was a connection to her parents, and that outweighed her discomfort. She got undressed, putting on a nightshirt, and slid beneath the covers, closing her eyes and letting herself fall asleep to thoughts of her mother and father.

* * *

Tayuya woke to the sound of a knock on her bedroom door.

"T-tayuya?" She heard Fu's voice through the wood.

"Hrghnnm." She sat up. "Whazit?"

"Can I come in?"

"Yah."

The door opened silently, and then closed. Tayuya recognized the vague outline of Fu in her pajamas. She walked over to where Tayuya was sitting up in the bed.

"Whazzwrong?"

"I- I can't sleep. I'm… I'm still kinda scared of what's going to happen." the admission took a lot out of her.

Tayuya threw back a corner of her sheets and scooted over.

"C'mere"

Fu got into the bed stiffly, as if afraid it would eat her, and pulled the covers up, facing away from Tayuya on her side.

"S'okay. M'here. N'thn's gunna happn."

Tayuya lay back down, and hugged Fu from behind. There was the sound of a quiet '_pop_' from the direction of the girl's head.

No longer being held awake, Tayuya allowed herself be dragged back down into the calm, warm, comforting darkness of her dreams.

* * *

Fu, on the other hand, was more awake now that she'd been in her own room. She really hadn't thought this through. _Yes_, she was enjoying being hugged tightly by her friend/crush/love-interest/whatever but it was also making her extremely self-aware.

The only sound in the room (that she could hear) was the steady in-out of Tayuya's breath behind her. She could also feel it. On her neck. Fu repressed the rising shudder of excitement or nervousness or arousal or _whatever_ that she was feeling, and tried to ignore the raging feelings and desires her hormones were giving her. It was not easy.

But. She also had a lot of experience in the field of self-control. Even if she was going about this in a different way. She was not retreating inwards, for one, mostly just because she didn't want to cut off the majority of the nice sensations she was feeling. But she still managed to push them aside… for the most part.

Was this what it was normally like to be a teenager? Uncontrollable feelings and desires that spiraled out of control like a badly-thrown shuriken? She'd managed to deal with her crush-leading-to-apparent-love in what she thought was a fairly mature manner. But she hadn't really been prepared for this

She hadn't even expected Tayuya to do this, Fu had only wanted to talk. But then again, maybe she had, subconsciously. After all, she _had_ woken up literally _in_ the redhead's arms this morning.

Just like she was now.

Maybe Tayuya had a thing for hugging? She hadn't shown it before. Or even indicated it. Fu had rather thought that she was one of those prickly don't-like-lots-of-physical-contact people. But maybe not.

Waking up this morning had been… interesting. Well, more like intensly surprising. And painful. Her head had hurt all the way until they had gotten to Haboro, where they had found Takumi.

That reminder brought her thoughts in a completely different direction.

Takumi. Tayuya's grandfather. Her family.

Once the daze induced by the whirlwind of leaving Taki had dissipated, the aching sensation of envy had reared its ugly head. And she hated it.

Her friend had no control over the events that had happened. No control over the things in her life that had led to this. But it still hurt. No matter what, Fu was still haunted by her parent's faces as she had last seen them. And Tayuya's sudden discovery of her heritage had made Fu extremely uncomfortable.

She was from civilian parents. The only reason she had been chosen to be a jinchūriki (and thus a ninja) was because of her reaction and compatibility with Chomei's chakra. She had no clan. And despite the redhead's vehement denial that it didn't make a difference, Fu still wished she could have had something like that. Where even if her parents had forsaken her, she would have still had relatives and people around her who would support her. But she didn't. An only child (well, at least as far as she knew. Who knew what'd happened since the last time she'd seen her parents). No cousins, no aunts or uncles. Nobody.

Well, nobody except for Tayuya.

Who had promised to always be there for her.

Who had promised to always help and protect her.

Who was comforting her and (completely unexpectedly) sleeping with her in the dead of night.

Fu wrapped her arm and hand around Tayuya's limb that was in front of her.

Who might even become something more, with the reactions and feelings Tayuya had been showing, as unguarded and transparent as ever. Even if Fu was probably doing the same thing. And she knew it. This whole falling-in-love business was new, and dealing with it in real-time was much different than looking back and reflecting on everything, like she was now.

She still didn't want to get her hopes up. But it was really difficult. Really, really difficult. Because for one, she wanted it so badly it made her chest ache, and two, Tayuya was showing so many signs, and yet also seemed totally oblivious to everything. Then again, that was typical Tayuya.

At least she had something prepared to counter that. Well, as much of something as Fu could get together at the last minute, anyways. But, with them leaving so quickly after only just arriving here, it looked like it would have to wait until they were settled down in Kumo.

Her thoughts were drawn back to the events of the day. Meeting Takumi. Fu had been mostly tuned out for the Uzumaki-Yakin reunion. But she was fully aware when Tayuya swore her clan oaths and received the two swords that even now were only feet away from her, on the other bedside table. And then there had been the general at dinner.

That samurai had rattled Fu in a way she didn't like to admit. And she'd been irrationally afraid once more that the redhead would abandon her, breaking her promise. But she hadn't. She'd chosen Fu over her own _family_.

And just like that, all of her envy had disappeared. She was more important to Tayuya than family, which the girl clearly cared about _a lot_. And that said everything that Fu needed to know, and gave her so much hope for the future.

But Tayuya was right. She needed to break the automatic withdrawal response she had developed. It wasn't healthy. But she had been overloaded by the thoughts and fears that were running through her head. The worst case scenarios.

They were still there in the back of her mind, and, despite the nap she had taken in the room, when she had tried to sleep she had been hyper-conscious of the fact that she was in an unusual bed, in an unusual house. Alone. Usually, she would be in her own bed right now, comforted by the familiarity and safety of her surroundings. But now, here, there had been none. No sense of security.

Which was what had pushed her to do something she would never normally do. Something that went against her standard _modus operandi_.

She reached out for help and sought comfort in another person. The one person who could make a difference. Who always made her feel better.

Tayuya.

And it had been the right thing to do, too. Her anxiety and apprehension had dissipated into nothing, the redhead's presence and unexpected physical affection doing wonders for her state of mind.

And she really liked it.

She liked knowing the girl was beside her. That she was there. Her body heat warming her. Her comforting scent of sea-salt and paprika that saturated the air and enveloped Fu like a blanket.

There was a feeling of true security and protection, despite the fact that Fu was easily the stronger of the two. But this wasn't about physical strength. It was about strength of character. Emotional strength. Which Tayuya had in abundance, always confident, always sure even in the face of adversity that everything could be turned to her favor, using an unexpected level of intelligence and strategy instead of brute force.

It was funny. The redhead was shorter than her by a few inches, and weighed less by over 20 pounds, but she had a maturity and a calm stalwart demeanor that made Fu feel like she was always the one being protected and looked out for.

Maybe it was because Tayuya was three years older.

Maybe it was because even though Fu had experienced neglect and loneliness, Tayuya had had it even worse, living on the streets, being enthralled to a madman, doing terrible things that she now regretted and hated with every fiber of her being. And all of those were things that required someone to grow up _fast_. Even faster than Fu had, as her experience had only extended to shinobi duties and missions, otherwise living a (relatively) simple life after the event with her parents and the first reactions of the villagers.

Oh, she knew about true human nature and the lies and ignorance people would create to shelter themselves. But Tayuya had seen even worse evils first-hand. Had experienced them. She'd only ever talked about her first mission, the one to Kiri, once. But Fu had known from her speech and particularly the smell of extreme nervousness and fear that she exuded that the senseless slaughter she had witnessed had scarred her very deeply. Equally as badly as her parents' abandonment had hurt her.

Fu's own experiences with people, that they would never help you if it didn't benefit them in some way (other than Tayuya, who seemed to defy a number of preconceptions she had), had been what had made her so frightened and overwhelmed today.

The samurai's willingness to look the other way and twist the situation around to their favor had dumbfounded her. If she had been in his position, she knew she would have just handed herself over to Taki instead of lying about the situation. But instead, he had also defied her judgments. Maybe that was why she was so anxious over the situation, even after he had agreed in his round-about way to help them. Because it all seemed too good to be true.

And that had led her to her irrational extreme worry and discomfort in the bare, dark, lonely room that she had been in, staring at the ceiling for three hours straight until she had reluctantly decided to see if Tayuya would be willing to talk. She had not at _all_ expected the redhead to invite her into the bed, nor to hold onto her in the way she was. But it was nice. Really nice. Warm. Soothing.

And now that she had it, she didn't know if she could go back to sleeping by herself, lonely. They'd be traveling the next few days so it didn't really matter. But once they got to Kumo?

Well, if everything turned out for the best… But even if they turned out for the worst, maybe they could at least share a room. She hoped Tayuya would be alright with that, no matter what.

But how would she react tomorrow morning? Fu hadn't really considered it. Would the redhead be awkward and upset because she had intruded on her? Would she think she was weird for sleeping with her? Would she never let her in again? It didn't seem like it, but she always expected the worst based on experience. Then again, Tayuya had always defied that. Every. Single. Time.

She yawned, the drowsiness of four hours of restlessness finally settling in. It looked like she would be able to sleep.

She slowly closed her eyes, and let herself drift off into the darkness, held in the arms of the girl she had fallen in love with.

* * *

Tayuya woke the next morning alone in her bed, and she wondered if the hazy memory from last night was just a dream. It had been a really nice dream, leaving her with that warm feeling she was becoming addicted to very quickly.

She got out of bed, took off her nightshirt, wrapped her breasts, and put her extra set of clothes on. She'd have to wash the other ones today before they left. Takumi _had_ to have a washer and dryer with all the other appliances he had.

She yawned, and rubbed at her eyes before heading downstairs for breakfast. Hopefully it wasn't too late in the morning. She had been _tired_. And the seal-guy was supposed to get here sometime.

Tayuya shivered when she got to the first floor as a wave of cold air hit her. The hot air from the fireplace had naturally risen to the second floor, and the first floor was a few degrees chillier.

Takumi and Fu sat at the table in the center of the room, quietly eating rice, miso, and fish.

Tayuya walked over to the other place that was set next to Fu, sat down, said her thanks for the food, and began to eat.

Takumi looked up from his bowl of rice. "So you're finally up. Sleep well?"

She nodded, and Fu blushed and turned away from the redhead. So it hadn't been a dream. It had been very comfy though. And warm.

"How about you?" she asked him, trying to be considerate. It was hard this early, but the cold air and food was helping.

"It was alright. My damn back's starting to act up. I'm not as young as I used to be." he grumped. Tayuya nodded in understanding. He had to be seventy or something, but he looked surprisingly fit and youthful for his age.

"Uh, do you have a laundry room? I need to do some before we go."

"Yup. It's that first door on the right in the hallway." he answered, motioning behind him with his head.

Tayuya continued eating, enjoying the company of Fu and her grandfather. It was nice. She got the same sense of family that she had with Shin and Yomi, but this felt more _real_ almost. Shin and Yomi were like an aunt and uncle. But this was truly close family.

They finished eating, and Takumi cleared the table. Fu just sat there, swinging her legs and playing with her thumbs. She looked really cute. Tayuya shook her head. The weird thoughts were becoming more and more frequent.

Fu cleared her throat.

"S-Sorry about last night."

"What? Why?" The redhead was a bit confused. Hadn't the company helped her sleep?

"For waking you up. And doing something weird."

_Stop making it seem like it was so strange or I won't be able to think of it as nothing._ the voice at the back of Tayuya's head whispered.

"I-I don't really mind. I was the one who invited you in anyways." At least, that's what she thought. The memory was very fuzzy. "And, um, it's not that weird, right? At least I don't think it is. So don't worry about it. It was… It was really nice." she said softly "I've never had anybody I was comfortable sleeping with before."

"O-Oh. Okay." the jinchūriki stuttered out. "W-well, thanks. It helped. A lot"

"M-hm. Well, uh, I'm going to go start my clothes, you need anything done?"

Fu shook her head, and Tayuya started walking to the hallway to the left of the genkan.

"C-can we keep doing it?" The question voiced was almost a whisper, and the redhead turned around to make sure it wasn't just her imagination. But Fu was staring at the floor, her face glowing. So probably not.

"What?"

"S-sleeping together. Can we keep doing it?" the green-haired girl slowly got the words out of her mouth, even if she kept stumbling over them.

The warm feeling in Tayuya's chest blossomed all over again, making her feel all tingly and happy. If it hadn't felt so good, she might have questioned it.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

* * *

A little after lunchtime (which was warm home-made ramen this time), there was knock on the door, and Takumi brought a short balding man into the room. Fu moved to the couch, and propped her foot up to give him access.

He worked silently, and wouldn't even respond to Tayuya's questions, which ended up getting her very ticked off at him, but unable to do anything about it to vent, leaving her in a broody, annoyed mood. After 40 minutes of work, and a number of new characters on Fu's foot, the modified seal dissolved into nothingness. The man packed up his ink, and quickly left.

And then they had to say goodbye.

* * *

Tayuya hugged her grandfather. This didn't feel right. Not at all.

She wanted family so bad. To have that connection with people that could only be shared because you were related by blood.

And the one time she found it, it was taken away from her almost immediately.

This _sucked_.

But at the same time, it was alright. Because he'd be here. Just like Shin and Yomi would be in Se-shi. And they could come back and visit when everything settled down, now that there was (supposedly) no way Fu could be tracked. So maybe in a year or so.

And then they wouldn't have to leave so quickly.

"I'm sorry we didn't get much time together, jii-chan." she said, stepping away from him.

"Nah. I'm a tough grizzled old guy, I can see why you'd choose the young, beautiful traveling companion over me." he said

Tayuya flushed slightly but smiled. "Sorry."

He became a bit more serious. "All joking aside, this is the right thing to do. I'm okay. But remember what we said yesterday? You need to help your _taisetsu-na hito_, the ones in your heart, when they need you most. And this is one of those times."

Tayuya heard a rustling sound of water-proof fabric behind her, and she turned to look at Fu. The girl was blushing, and looking away, almost hiding in her jacket like a turtle. She seemed to be doing that a lot these past few days, becoming meek and embarrassed easily. It was rather adorable.

The redhead turned back to Takumi. "Yeah. But I promise I'll be back. I want to learn how to forge from you. If just so that I can say I'm living up to our name."

He smiled. "Well, I'll be here waiting. I'll be around for at least three or four more decades. Having so many of our clan marry Uzumaki and have kids in our clan gave us a little of their lifespan after a while. So don't you worry if it takes a couple years, okay?"

She nodded.

He smiled at them. "Have fun kids. Be safe, you hear?" She almost laughed at the phrasing. It made him sound like a mother. But that was probably what he was trying to accomplish.

Tayuya reached for the door and opened it, letting a blast of cold air into the small room that kept the freezing wind from invading the rest of the house.

She stepped outside, crunching in the thin layer of snow. She heard Fu behind her, and when they were about ten feet away, she turned around and waved at Takumi, who was still standing in the door. He waved back, and then closed the door. She didn't blame him. It was cold.

Fu stood there behind her, and Tayuya impulsively reached out and grabbed the girl's gloved hand with her own.

"Come on! We're pretty far south, so maybe we can make it out of this kami-forsaken country before nightfall." she said, tugging on Fu's hand to get her to walk next to her. "Lets just hope we can. As much fun as it was camping out in a cave with you, I don't think I want to do it again. At least not for a few months."

Fu laughed, the happy, tinkling, bell-like sound bouncing through the trees around them. "Okay. Let's go."

They walked away into the whiteness, hand in hand.

* * *

They took the easy path down the mountain this time. From Haboro, they headed south, just following Tayuya's compass and taking the paths that seemed to be going in that direction.

Tayuya adamantly refused to cross through the Land of Rice Paddies to get to Hot Water because of the cell-like nature of the Village Hidden in Sound, dispersed throughout the entire country in small pockets, so they would go to Fire, and then head east to Hot Water, then north-east through Frost into Lightning. She hated the thought of more cold, but at least they were prepared for it. It was better than _not_ having been prepared and still needing to go through it.

By the end of the day, they had managed to make it to Fire Country, crossing the border just before the sun set. Now that Taki couldn't track them, they decided to sleep for the night instead of pushing themselves for distance. Their quick pace through Iron along with the snow had made for a combination that tired both of the girls out completely.

They fell asleep next to each other on the forest floor, gazing up at the stars through the canopy of leaves.

* * *

_Somewhere in Rain Country_

A wet, sucking sound echoed in a large room. A black and white two-tone person with large protrusions on his shoulders emerged from the floor.

"Leader-sama." The white side spoke, seemingly independent of the black side.

A man in the darkness turned towards the source of the voice, only a silhouette in the shadows.

The black side explained the intrusion. "We have located the host of the Nanabi. She has left the protection of her home, and is traveling through Fire Country. We are now able to track her using the spores."

"She was pretty cute, huh? It's too bad we've gotta kill her." the white side quipped.

"Would you _shut up_. Nobody cares about her appearance. We only need the bijū she contains." the black side responded.

"Well, yeah, but-"

The silhouette open his eyelids, and both sides of the man fell silent at the sight of the glowing, purple, ringed eyes.

"_That_ pair is in the area, correct?"

The black and white man nodded silently.

"Good. Send them to capture her. It will be a good test of their… abilities."

"Hai, Leader-sama."

The sucking sound repeated as the strange-shaped man dissolved back into the floor.

"This will bring us to two."

* * *

**A/N:**

MUA-HAHAHAHA /evil laugh

Mifune's a chill guy. I always thought he was really cool at the Kage Summit, especially with all of the hotheads in the room. *cough* A *cough*

Evil Pain is great. You know, before we ever saw his face. When the Akatsuki were nothing but shadows. And Kishimoto planned on making them all actual monsters. Before we found out Nagato was just a big softie being manipulated by Obito and Zetsu.

Moving from writing characters that I built from the ground up and OCs to canon characters is an interesting experience. Reading through the arcs of the manga and trying to get a feel for how they act, and then replicating that is more difficult than I expected. I'm really trying my hardest to stay faithful to Kishimoto's original representations. At least at first. From here on out, we're only going to be seeing canon characters for a while. I think. Writing, even with an outline, is a bit unpredictable for me.

Ohhhh man. Our first fight's next chapter. It's gonna be _good_. After 11 chapters of nothing but long (but important) drama and build-up, we finally going to get a classic(ish) battle. Hope you're looking forward to it.

I love all you guys. Putting up with my weird characters and crazy shenanigans.

Read! Review! Favorite! Follow! Enjoy! Tell your friends!

* * *

**Translations:**

_taisetsu-na hito_ (大切な人): lit. 'important person/people'. First introduced in the 'Wave' arc, it's one of those phrases you see everywhere in _Naruto_ fanfiction. But, unlike what most people use it as, it also has the undertone and alternate meaning of 'significant other'. Which is what Takumi is alluding to. Tayuya's just completely oblivious.


	12. Immortality

**Disclaimer:**

Did Shikamaru take _forever_ to figure out Hidan's abilities, despite being considered the brightest tactical mind of his generation? If so, I don't own Naruto, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 12:**  
**Immortality**

"Sooo, what do you think this is going to be like?"

A triple-bladed scythe dangling from a hand sliced through the air while its wielder walked forward, his arm swinging.

"I don't **care**. She doesn't have any bounty, which makes this unprofitable. Zetsu said she showed no trace of being able to use the bijū's chakra, and that the girl traveling with her was B-rank at best. We should be getting close. I want this done quickly so we can get back to collecting heads that are actually profitable."

The silver-haired man turned to his companion. "Jeez, man. Lighten up a little."

The only response he recieved was a grunt.

The two men walked down a dirt road bounded on both sides by the dense forests of Fire Country. Both were dressed in black cloaks with red clouds, but that was really the only similarity.

The silver-haired one had dark purple eyes, almost black, and a slashed hita-ite with slanted lines around his neck. He moved forward lazily, barely keeping up with the man who walked next to him. The large scythe that swung from his hand appeared completely impractical, but it was part of his religion. Or so he said.

The other one actually wore his Taki forehead protector on his forehead. It was also slashed through. He had a black mask over his mouth and a gray hood that covered his head completely. His stride was confident, self assured in his ability to crush any opponent he encountered.

This was Hidan and Kakuzu.

They complimented each other well. Kakuzu usually ended up killing his partners out of sheer annoyance and anger with them. He couldn't do that with Hidan. The silver-haired man just wouldn't die. Or couldn't, as was actually the case.

"All you care about is your damn money. But Jashin-sama only requires death and destruction!"

"Because money is the only thing you can count on. Unlike your god." Kakuzu responded in annoyance, rising to the cultists' taunts.

"That's fucking blasphemy! Jashin-sama is the pinnacle of all! His path of bloody annhi-"

He just tuned Hidan out, who continued to rave on about how 'amazing Jashin-sama was' and that Kakuzu needed to give 'proper respect to Jashin-sama'. The jiongu-wielder's pupil-less green eyes focused on two figures by the trees on the side of the road who matched Zetsu's description. A taller girl with green hair and orange eyes wearing white clothes with a red tube on her back. Their mark. And a shorter girl with long red hair and a red sleeveless shirt. Her companion.

"Would you _shut up_." he growled in anger at his partner, the man's tirade finally getting on his nerves. "That's them."

* * *

The girls had woken around 7 in the morning, taking turns to bathe in a nearby stream, and eating breakfast. By eight they had begun moving east at an easy pace. With Fu's tracking seal gone (which had been verified by the guy who removed it, the only thing he said at all), they were no longer worried about Takigakure tracking them, and could afford the extra time.

The weather in Fire Country was its usual, dry and pleasant, making it perfect weather for running. At this rate, it would take them a bit more than seven hours to get to the Land of Hot Water. Fu wanted to stop there and stay the night since she'd never been to a hot-spring, and Tayuya didn't mind taking the trip slowly.

She was just happy to be out of the fucking cold. Traveling through Iron had _not_ been fun. And by the end Fu had gotten grumpy about the weather, which had been pretty funny to watch, and ridiculously cute, involving copious amounts of pouting and grumbling, both of which were very uncharacteristic for the green-haired girl.

They were now taking a break to get a drink and rest a little, about 3 hours into the journey, munching on a snack to help keep their energy levels up. The pair was sitting on the ground and leaning against a couple of trees next to a dirt road they had been following west, one that led directly to the northern part of Hot Water. The sun filtered through the green leaves of the trees at their backs, providing a cool, comfortable shade from the still-rising sun.

Tayuya shifted, trying to get comfortable against the tree and stop the crossed rope on her back from digging into her skin. The uncomfortable pressure that existed in her mind when she wasn't in close contact with her swords had gotten worse the longer she hadn't had them out, but she'd managed to deal with it until they were out of Iron. At which point she had promptly gotten them out of her bag and rigged a makeshift harness out some high-grade rope that Fu had. She'd ended up winding it around her chest in X-shape, looping it over her shoulders and down around the bottom of her ribs twice before tying it off, forming a tight cross on her back that she had been able to put the swords under side-by-side without sacrificing too much freedom of movement.

It chafed slightly, even over her shirt, and she'd gotten Fu to seal her backpack (minus her flute) into the girl's scroll in order to make it so that the bag's pressure wouldn't make the rope (or the or the scabbards) dig into her shoulders and back. Her flute was held against her rib-cage on her right, tucked under one of the pieces that wrapped around the base of her chest. She wasn't comfortable with having it anywhere that she couldn't reach it easily, considering it was her primary (and formerly _only_) weapon. The swords would be pretty much useless until she learned how to wield them.

"Hey! You! Heathen!" a voice yelled out.

Tayuya didn't even react until she realized that there was nobody else around and that it had to be speaking to them. Both she and Fu looked up at the same time, searching for the source.

"Yeah! I'm talking to you!"

They turned to look at the origin of the yelling, a silver haired man in a black cloak with red clouds approximately thirty feet away. He stood next to another man who wore the same cloak, a hood, and a mask that covered the entire bottom half of his face. Tayuya vaguely noted that they had to be boiling wearing black like that under the sun which was high in sky. Fu made a sharp intake of breath.

Tayuya looked at her. "What? What's wrong?"

Fu was staring at the one on the left with the glowing green eyes and the mask. "That's Kakuzu." Who the heck was Kakuzu? "Well, at least it looks like him, since that's what he looked in his profile drawing in the bingo book. He's easily Taki's most famous missing-nin. He's supposed to be like a hundred years old or something. People thought he died for a while, but then Taki started getting reports of people seeing him again." she whispered to the redhead. Her eyes were wide, and Tayuya started getting that foreboding feeling in her gut.

A _hundred years old_? What the hell?

"A-and what about the other guy? You know him?"

She shook her head. And then squinted at him before her eyes went wider than they had been before. "Oh, shit." That was disturbing, Fu did _not_ normally curse. "He was in our bingo book too. His name is Hidan. He was from Yugakure." she replied.

The redhead was confused. "There _is_ no Yugakure." She'd never even _heard_ of a Village Hidden in the Hot Springs.

Fu nodded. "Exactly. It was a relatively small village. And he killed all of the other ninjas. No ninjas, no hidden village. They're both S-ranks." she said under her voice, her eyes glued to the two men.

S-ranks. S-ranks in black cloaks. Where had she heard that bef-

"Oh, _fuck me_."

"What?" Fu asked, turning her head slightly so she could see Tayuya out of the corner of her eye.

"These are the guys. The guys in the black cloaks. They guys Orochimaru told us never to fight because they were stronger than _him_." If those guys were talking to them, then they clearly wanted something. And it probably wasn't a friendly chat.

_ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgod_ Tayuya's thoughts were more prayers for divine intervention than a string of curses.

The silver one leaned casually on the long object he was carrying. "Hey! Are you just going to sit there!? I'm talking to _you_, you Jashin-damned infidels!" He exuded an easy laziness which contrasted the man next to him, who had his arms crossed tightly and was tapping his finger in irritation at being ignored.

Fu seemed to have come to the same conclusion as she had, that they were here for a confrontation, but instead of getting worried, she looked like she planned to fight them.

"Fu, I'm not exactly S-rank." Tayuya said, anxiety leaking into her voice.

She was _really_ worried right now. She was barely even A-rank, and she was only used to fighting with her dokis and genjutsu. Both of which were tricky to get exactly right. She'd never used the compressed-wind chakrams in real fight, not even sparring against Fu for fear of hurting her permanently (despite the jinchūriki's assurances that she'd be fine). So all Tayuya had experience with was stationary dummies, not moving targets. And then there were her new swords. That she knew nothing about using. The combination of these things was _not_ something that made you feel prepared to fight S-ranks with.

"I know. But I _am_." the green-haired girl answered.

Well, that was true. If she had to do this, Tayuya would definitely prefer to have Fu by her side.

At an unspoken signal, they both got up and moved into the middle of the road, the two men following their movement with their heads, still about thirty feet away.

Now that she had a better angle, Tayuya could actually identify the thing that the man Fu had labeled as Hidan was casually swinging around. A scythe with three blades.

She tried to figure out what the point of such a weird weapon was. It wouldn't be effective for cutting, since the first two blades would get in the way of the third at the top. So it had to be like her black sword, designed to tear and maim. It appeared fairly heavy, but he was swinging it around like it was a feather.

This was not looking good.

"You wouldn't mind just coming with us would you?" a gravelly voice traveled across the open space between the two pairs. Tayuya assumed that was Kakuzu, since Hidan's lips weren't moving. "Time is money, after all." He was looking at Fu, who had locked eyes with him. It seemed they only cared about her as an opponent. Tayuya could understand that. She wasn't exactly formidable compared to them. Or Fu.

"So you're the ones." Fu said. What? "The ones who sealed the five-tails. And now you're here for me."

Tayuya's blood ran cold.

During lunch on one of the days after Fu's confession about Chomei, they had talked about his effect on Fu's chakra system as Tayuya had been curious what the foreign chakra was like, and if it was anything like Orochimaru's curse seal. She'd described to Fu how the curse seal could never be removed (well, under normal circumstances) because of how it was fused to the network of tiny tubes organically, and Fu had replied that that was similar to how it worked for a jinchūriki, but only in concept. The bijū could be removed, but because the host's chakra network became dependent on the tailed beast's presence, the removal always ended the same way for the host: with their chakra network collapsing, and death.

"Hm. You're very well informed. If I say yes, would you be willing to come with us without a fight?" Kakuzu asked, sounding almost hopeful.

Fu shook her head. "Maybe if you had asked a few months ago, I might have." She looked at Tayuya and then back at Kakuzu. "But _now_ I have a life worth living." Tayuya smiled inwardly, pleased that she had made such a large impact on the girl's life.

The man's posture and demeanor shifted immediately. "That's too bad." he growled.

And then he punched the air in front of him.

Tayuya wondered what that was supposed to accomplish… until his arm moved away from his body and sped towards them, still connected to him by a mass of black _things_.

_What the fuck!?_

Fu punched the fist head on, the impact creating a small shockwave that blew through the air, and the hand flew back in the direction it came from, even faster than it had arrived.

The black tendril-things pulled the hand back to Kakuzu's arm, and he shook it out. "You're not going to make this easy, are you?" he snarled.

_Alright. They attacked first._

Tayuya bit her thumb, ran through the hand seals that had become muscle memory while focusing on her doki, and slammed her hand down on the ground.

Three large poofs sounded behind them, but Fu didn't turn around, keeping her eyes on the black-cloaked pair. Tayuya smirked as she saw Kakuzu and Hidan look up. And up.

"Hey, Kakuzu, you think I could take the short one? Jashin-sama would love those guys. And I've never tried a summon before."

"Fine." Kakuzu agreed, placating his partner. If he didn't he'd just have to deal with the fool complaining later, and it wasn't like the red girl was worth fighting anyways. She shouldn't take Hidan any longer than a minute. Well, excluding his stupid ritual, of course.

"Fu, what am I supposed to do?" Tayuya hissed under her breath. She didn't want to deal with an S-rank one-on-one.

Fu glanced at her before looking back towards the pair in front of them. "We need to split them up. Hidan doesn't really have much from what I've read. Just that scythe. You try and trap him in a genjutsu or something. If you stay away from it, you should be fine."

If his scythe was really the only thing he had, then she could probably avoid it. Even if she did get hit, she would heal from any physical injuries he caused her. She'd just have to be careful if it affected her mind too. But she'd been able to break every genjutsu she'd ever been put under. Alright. Maybe one-on-one wouldn't be as bad as she had been fearing. She'd try not to reveal that she could heal, holding that as her new ace-in-the-hole in place of her curse seal.

Tayuya pulled her flute from its spot, running through her list of genjutsu melodies in her head. There were a lot. But she preferred only 3 or 4 truly high-grade ones. Like the Phantom Chains.

Fu continued. "I'll lead Kakuzu away and deal with him, and then come back to take care of Hidan. If it gets really bad, run. I'll be able to track you once I've dealt with them."

"No. I'm not leaving you behind." the redhead stated adamantly. Didn't Fu know better than that by now?

"Alright." she accepted, smiling, before turning to their opponents.

"You don't need to wait on us. _I_ certainly won't." It was like a switch had been flipped. Fu's voice was now scathingly cold, reminiscent of the barren snow-covered landscape they had trudged through only yesterday.

She lowered herself into a stance, and Tayuya tensed in preparation. Watching Fu be aggressive like this always gave her a bit of a thrill.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, the only sound in the air coming from the cicadas in the trees of the forests on either side of them. The close-to-noon sun beat down on the combatants, high in the sky.

And then they moved.

Hidan began running towards them, and Fu reacted by launching herself towards the black-clad pair, dirt flying from the force of her action. Tayuya's adrenaline skyrocketed, making her blood pound in her ears.

Fu was not slow. Not by any means of the definition. In the time it had taken Hidan to move forward seven feet, she had crossed the entire distance, only a blur in the haze caused by the heat of the road.

She slid to a stop in front of Kakuzu, dirt and dust flying from the rapid deceleration, and used the remaining forward momentum from her dash to snap her left foot up towards his chin so quickly Tayuya wouldn't have seen it if she had blinked.

He leaned back as Fu's sandal rushed past his face, missing by millimeters, at which point she reversed the action, bringing her foot slamming back down even faster with only the pure strength of her leg muscles.

Her downwards kick landed on the ground, and Tayuya _saw_ the shockwave roll through the dirt, with rings of white air pushed outward from the point of impact, before the surface compressed with a _shrak-fump_, the solid earth broken to pieces and forming a twenty foot depression with her heel in the center. Clumps of rock and debris jumped into the air around Fu, seeming to hang momentarily before gravity reasserted itself, pulling the fragments back down.

Holy _Shit._

The crater had to be six inches deep at the point where her foot had landed.

Tayuya had _heard_ her say she could do things like this, but she must have been holding back when she had demonstrated at their training sessions, because her strikes had _never_ had an effect like that. And she hadn't even _imagined_ that Fu could do it without Chomei's help. She was easily S-rank even without using the Nanabi's chakra.

The two girls were on completely different levels. They had never even been close.

Tayuya was surrounded by veritable monsters.

The two men had jumped backwards in different directions at the first sign of the damage, and were now separated by the crater.

Fu grinned darkly, her eyes hidden beneath her bangs. She had them exactly where wanted them.

The green-haired girl jumped out of the circle of compacted earth and rubble and landed fifteen feet in front of Kakuzu, with him between her and Hidan. The ex-Taki nin would have to come to her to attack.

"Heh, it looks like she isn't playing around." Hidan said lightly, speaking in the direction of the taller man.

"It would appear that she is very skilled in close combat." Kakuzu noted. He turned his head slightly towards his partner. "You would be easily countered, and only an extreme hindrance. Deal with the other one quickly, and then come assist me once I have worn her down."

Fu grinned wider, her blindingly-white teeth and orange eyes glowing even in the shadow her hair cast. Tayuya shuddered. She still thought that any expression of malice was just _wrong_ on the normally happy girl's face.

Realizing she didn't have much time before she had to deal with Hidan, the redhead began to prepare, shutting down the emotions she was experiencing.

Annoyance.

Anger.

Resentment.

Resignation.

Sadness.

Excitement.

Anxiety.

Anticipation.

Affection.

Fondness.

Dedication.

Devotion.

She may no longer have the title of '_The North Gate_'. But she could easily still act like it.

Kakuzu began moving towards Fu, and she jumped backwards into the trees, running away deeper into the forest. The ground cracked again from her jump, and Tayuya wondered just how much she had been holding back before. The cloaked man leaped after her and followed, quickly disappearing into the dense snarl of foliage and branches.

Hidan turned and focused on Tayuya. "You seem pretty weak. But it doesn't matter. Everyone is equal in the eyes of Jashin-sama." He smiled happily, but it reminded her of Fu's smile only seconds ago. "Every one is equal in **death**."

…_You just keep thinking that._

Underestimating your opponent was a quick way to defeat, as she had learned very well the _last_ time she had fought someone. She would **not** be making that same mistake again.

"Yeah? Well how about I play a song of death for _you_?" she shot back at him, lifting her flute to her lips. Start with something simple. Test what he can do, but still incapacitate if possible. It would tell her whether genjutsu would work on him or not. If not, she'd switch to the dokis for physical attacks.

Tayuya began playing the haunting melody that made up the base for her Phantom Sound Chains, her go-to paralysis genjutsu.

Hidan stopped, frozen, and looked around him at something she couldn't see: the barren desert inside the illusion. "Hey! What the hell are you doi-urgh" his arms were pulled out and up. Alright. It looked like he was completely susceptible to them. Fantastic.

She pulled the sound of the genjutsu from the air, and began looping it back using Yin chakra. It allowed her to maintain multiple melodies, layering illusions and commands with only a thought. This ability, the ability to manipulate spiritual energy _instinctively_, was why she had become one of Orochimaru's elite. An ability she now knew was from her mother's clan.

Tayuya switched to playing a sharp counterpoint to the original melody. The second melody would let her control the dokis while keeping Hidan trapped. She chose the one with the club, making it run quickly towards Hidan, thudding and shaking the ground as it closed the distance. At the same time, she placed the other two ten feet behind her in positions she where she could use them as a shield if she had to.

A loud, high-pitched _click_ that made Tayuya think of teeth sounded over the doki's steps from Hidan, and she halted the demon, deciding caution would be best until she knew what had happened.

A large, wet, lump of red fell out of the man's mouth onto the dirt road, droplets of crimson trailing out of his mouth as her collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

Well, then. She had _not_ expected him to do that, well, maybe something similar, but not **that**.

"You bit your own tongue off? That must fucking hurt." she yelled at him.

Hidan drew himself up, picking up the dirty-red piece of meat from in front of him. He dusted it off, trailing streaks of blood all over his cloak, and shoved it into his mouth.

She may not be squeamish, but still, _ewwww_.

Her mind was whirring. He was able to counteract the genjutsu with self-harm, same as the pineapple-haired asshole. But biting off his tongue and then _putting it back_? That pointed to him somehow being able to reattach it. Was he another person with a healing factor, like her?

Hmm. He had just shown that he was willing to harm himself to work towards a goal. So he was reliant on it, or lazy, and appeared to be willing to use it freely in battle.

She could more than likely take advantage of that.

"Yeah. Shit." he moved his jaw around in circles, cupping it in his left hand, the one not holding his giant scythe-thing. "It really did."

He spat out globs of dirt and grime. "Eugh that's disgusting. But I would've had to ask for Kakuzu's help if I waited." he said, glaring at her. "He gets so self-righteous when that happens, as if it makes him _so. much. better._ The sanctimonious prick." He got comically angry thinking about it, and then looked back at her. "But I'll pay you back for it, you _bitch_. Jashin-sama will have your **blood**."

Huh. So his healing ability didn't stop him from feeling pain, like hers did. And there was a time limit on _reattaching_. Which indicated that separation from the body stopped the healing, so piecing blows wouldn't work because they would just be able to be able to close up. And there was some relation between this 'Jashin-sama' and blood. And death.

Was he just _completely_ underestimating her and not keeping his mouth shut because he thought she had no chance? Or was he just that stupid? …It was probably a combination of both.

He began running towards her, and she got ready to control her dokis in defense. Once he was within twenty feet, he started swinging his scythe wildly with only one hand. There was no form or reason to it. But Fu had said it was all he had. So what made him a goddamn S-rank?

She tried to analyze his movements. On first glance they looked disconnected and superfluous. But on closer inspection, they were actually very efficient, and one swing moved into another seamlessly, even if it was in a completely opposite direction.

She jumped back to keep her distance, and played a quick set of notes, hastily making the demon that he was next to swing its club at him.

Instead of connecting with a full-contact blow like it should have, he placed a hand on the top of the incoming club, and flipped over it. Alright. So he was also very agile. She tried to think of something she could use to stall him. Conversation would work. And could get her more information.

"So, who the fuck is this Jashin bastard?" she asked.

"Screw you, heathen! Don't disrespect Jashin-sama! He is a god! And the only thing he requires is devotion to complete destruction, death, and ritualistic sacrifice!" Sounded like a nice god. But it didn't do anything to stall him.

He raked the scythe across the leg of the doki while running past it, and it dispelled from the damage. Damn.

"Aw, man." He sounded forlorn at the loss of the giant summons, looking at the spot where the summon-smoke was dispersing before turning to her. "Well, I guess _you'll_ have to do." He sighed. "And I had been looking forward to offering such large sacrifices. Jashin-sama would have appreciated them. It's no fun if there isn't any variety, ya know?"

The dokis were composed primarily of Yin chakra, which allowed them to attack and extract Yang chakra from an opponent, trying to acquire enough to have a balance. And since they were made of so _much_ Yin, each doki would be able to absorb all of the Yang chakra from ten jounin before being full.

But because of their high spiritual energy composition, attacking them physically would slowly deplete the small amount of Yang chakra that allowed them to manifest.

Using **Revolt of the Demon World**, the Yang-extraction technique, made them much sturdier, eventually to the point of Orochimaru's snakes or Kidoumaru's spiders if they achieved a balance of the chakra natures, but that attack took time to prepare and execute.

And without the additional physical energy, it was a lot easier to get rid of them. But it still usually took quite a few hits for them to dispel. Which meant that getting hit by that scythe was _not_ a good idea.

She had a very strong feeling that a bonus of his healing factor was some kind of extreme stamina, where he _never_ got tired, allowing him to wear down his opponents and 'sacrifice' them to 'Jashin-sama'.

Which meant he had nigh-infinite Yang-chakra, since it was derived from the body. So extracting it from him was like trying to siphon an entire ocean into a lake. Time consuming and utterly pointless, not hindering him while it happened nor leaving him any weaker if it could be completed.

Tayuya lowered into a guard stance, wary of what he was going to do now.

He was just standing there.

She wasn't within his reach, so what was he trying to–

A blur flew towards her, and she dodged on instinct, rolling out of the way to the right, but something sharp crossed her left upper arm and tore through the skin. He had _thrown_ that fucking scythe! What the hell!?

And he had managed to cut her. Now to see what was so bad about it.

He jerked on the steel tether that had appeared from his sleeve, and swung it back to him, snaking it through the air, hitting her last two doki behind her and dispelling them simultaneously. And now she wouldn't be able to call on them for a while because of the forced dispel.

She hadn't anticipated that he could do that. The tether had been hidden this entire time, and she had (incorrectly) assumed that he was only able to wield it as a close-range weapon. A reasonable assumption based on the information she had, but it had been wrong. Dead wrong.

She looked at her arm. The cut was already gone. And if he had been paying attention, her ace had just been exposed.

Tayuya was now in a shit position, and she knew it. He had taken out all of her demons, leaving her with her chakrams, and then her horrid taijutsu (which she honestly didn't even consider an option).

She spun various sizes of the wind-circles up at points around her body in preparation for him rushing her to attack again, thinking about the vital points she would need to target with each size of chakram.

But he still didn't move from his spot.

"_Now_ you will see the glory of Jashin-sama!" And he licked his blade. With her blood on it. His skin turned black and white-bone like markings appeared on his body. He sliced his hand open on the scythe, his own blood falling to the ground, which he then put his foot on and used it to draw a circle, and then triangle inscribed within it before pulling some sort of long pointy rod out of his left sleeve, and laying his scythe on the ground next to him, the cable still trailing into his sleeve

"Okay! Everything is ready!" He laughed in glee, looking upwards. "Jashin-sama! Please, accept my tiny, pitiful offering in your name!" he yelled to the heavens. She would have resented that description if she hadn't cut off all emotion.

Hidan turned back towards her. "Jashin-sama will appreciate your suffering and sacrifice, _infidel_. Now, feel the **pain**!" And he stabbed the rod into his upper right leg.

He looked at her expectantly. Was that supposed to do something? She looked down at her leg, and poked around the same area on her body that he had stabbed on his. Huh. There was a hole there. But it was already rapidly closing. His technique apparently didn't affect clothing, so she hadn't been able to even see it. And since she couldn't feel pain, she hadn't noticed it happening.

But it gave her a great deal of information to work with. This had to be his 'ritual sacrifice'. The blood was used as a medium to create a sympathetic link that could be used to physically harm his opponent. Creepy… and it was somehow linked to his god.

That circle had to be important to the 'ritual', or he wouldn't have drawn it. All she could think of was that it enclosed hi– Oh. It was like the stasis seal. Well, kind of. The active area was only in a marked circle. So that circle was like an area that he could work inside of, but not outside of? If that was the case, then he would prioritize staying inside the circle. That was a huge opening.

"Is _that_ why you're an S-rank?"

She could see why it would be dangerous. For anyone that wasn't her.

But this was perfect. Holy shit. The first S-rank she ever fights against, and she's _completely_ immune to his main form of attack.

"Wha-What? What the hell!? Where's your pain!? I don't feel your pain!" He pulled the rod out of his leg and stabbed it into his stomach. Tayuya didn't even flinch.

It seemed he had been too focused on starting his ritual to notice her arm healing at all, and thus had had no idea why she wasn't reacting. She needed to take advantage of the fact that he was off balance and finish this, _now_, or she wouldn't get another chance.

She quickly shoved her flute back into the spot against her ribs under her makeshift rope harness and then aimed and 'threw' a four-inch chakram at his neck horizontally, launching it forward with a burst of chakra.

She could technically do this from any planar surface on her body, but she preferred running them rapidly down her right arm and using her pointer finger to aim. So it was more shooting like a crossbow than actually throwing them. This had been the most efficient method she could find for launching them. She wanted to try levitating them further away from her, only held up and passed around by chakra threads so that she could _actually_ throw them, using the threads, but she hadn't had a chance to try it out.

However aiming them like _this_ gave her truly hairline precision, just by using her finger to create very light touches of chakra that would disturb the ring as it flew past in such away that she could make it follow any path she wanted.

Hidan ducked to avoid the four-inch ring only inches before it hit him. The blades were practically invisible, only showing up as slight distortions of light due to how fast and dense the rotating wind was.

And because of that, he wasn't able to see the four she had sent immediately afterwards, falling right into her trap.

If hurting himself in the circle hurt her, then her own attacks would also harm her while he was there. But she wanted to harm him in a way that he _couldn't_ recover from, but she _could_, forcing him to retreat out of the circle. And that meant using her ace.

She'd settled on arms instead of legs or his head, since she wanted to be able to move in close to him quickly (meaning no legs, as she didn't know how long it would take for them to heal) and she didn't know if she could actually survive having something as important as her head cut off . But she _did_ know she could survive losing an arm because it'd happened before. That had not been a good day.

And unlike her, he wouldn't be able to reattach his arms _without his arms_.

His eyes widened, looking at her as the blades of wind tore through his cloak, skin, and bones of his upper arms and shoulders like a hot knife through butter. They fell to the ground, splattering blood all over the place, the red liquid gushing from his wounds.

And then his grin turned vicious. "HA! You didn't think that through, did ya?"

She looked down at the ground below her, where her own bloody arms lay. And then back up at him. "No. I did."

The appendages flew back up to their proper places, fusing within seconds, and she wiped some of the dirt off on her shirt. His eyes bulged in their sockets, even wider than they had before.

_Now_

This was her chance.

Tayuya started running towards him, spinning up another batch of chakrams en route. Hidan just stood there, frozen, until she was less than ten feet away from him.

At that point he finally seemed to put two and two together, understanding that he was completely countered since she could harm him without being affected herself.

The Jashinist tried to back up to get some distance from her, but tripped and fell over backwards, not being able to counterbalance his movements with his missing limbs. _There!_

He had fallen out of the circle. And he was at point-blank range.

"Wha-_What the fuck are you!?_" he yelled at her, his demeanor shaken and fear in his eyes. She didn't respond, crossing his circle so that she was standing directly over his face, and then raised her finger and fired an extra-wide blade at his neck from less than two feet away.

She didn't miss.

The whirling blade cut cleanly, the head rolling away as his body's arterial blood flowed out onto the ground.

"AHHH THAT FUCKING _HURTS_! YOU **BITCH**!"

So. Even without his body (or his head, depending on how you looked at it) he was still alive. She walked over to the head, satisfied with her accomplishment. It wasn't every day you could say you took down an S-class ninja on your own. It had been _much_ easier than she had expected. Well, the last part at least.

"YOU ASSHOLE! HOW THE _FUCK_ DID YOU DO THAT!?"

Tayuya grabbed Hidan's head by the hair, and brought it up to eye level. "You shouldn't assume that someone's weak just based on appearance, you know. It might come back to bite you in the ass."

"YOU JASHIN-DAMNED CUNT!" He spat in her face. That… _annoyed_ her. A lot. And it actually succeeded in breaking through the mental wall she had up. She wiped the saliva of her face, flinging it to the ground.

"Oh yeah? Well fuck you _and_ your god." And she spat on him in retaliation, spinning his head by the hair and flinging it deep into the forest at the side of the road in a fit of rage. It felt really good.

The head continued to spout obscenities in her direction, but she ignored it. She couldn't exactly do any more to him than she had, and she had no idea what would be required for him to actually die. Cutting his head to pieces would probably achieve nothing, seeing that he somehow managed to be able to talk even with severed vocal chords. It would be easier just to leave him and come back to deal with it later. Right now, she needed to find Fu.

Her fight had taken about six or seven minutes, but she was still worried about the other girl. Unlike her, Fu would probably _not_ be naturally resistant to her opponent's attacks, even if she was as ridiculously overpowered as it seemed. Fu could only handle four of Chomei's tails the way she preferred (enhancement) without self-inflicted damage, and she had said these guys had already taken down the fully-powered jinchūriki of the five-tails.

Tayuya looked at her wrist.

The bracelets were proving themselves to be invaluable. She followed the path that it led her in, leaping through branches, worrying about the green-haired girl, praying that she was alright.

The ring on her right arm brought her to a clearing in less than thirty seconds.

It was decimated.

Fu stood in the middle of the destruction, numerous craters and piles of dirt around the clearing, smoke curling into the air. Her skin was a dark blue, telling Tayuya that she had hardened it for protection. A black helmet and visor covered her head, leaving only the bottom half of her face exposed, and her chest was covered in hard, plate-like armor. Small pauldrons sat on her shoulders, a spike protruding from each one. Four orange, crystalline wings extended from around her shoulder blades, but they were folded flat against her back like a beetle. Fu had told Tayuya she could fly using the 'tails', but avoided it, and really only used the chakra they gave her, forcing it back into her muscles and bones, making them _absurdly_ strong.

Kakuzu stood at the edge of the clearing away from Fu. His mask and cloak were both gone, his chest bare. Black sutures covered his body and face, and two large black humanoid _things_ stood next to him, and two black puddles lay on the battlefield.

What the hell had happened here?

* * *

Fu led Kakuzu away from the dirt road, and by extension Tayuya, and deeper into the forest, hoping she could find an open area where she wouldn't be restricted by her surroundings. Unlike Tayuya, who worked well in enclosed areas because of the sound-based nature of her illusions, Fu needed a lot of room to be comfortable fighting.

It took her a while to find what she needed. She'd been jumping above the treetops about every three or four leaps, scanning the horizon for any signs of a clearing or _something_. She ended up traveling in a curve once she actually saw one, traveling almost parallel to the road that was about a half-mile away now.

Kakuzu was _heavy_. She could hear him crashing through the trees behind her, and Fu was thankful that her (relatively) light weight and power allowed her to jump farther than he could, keeping ahead of him by a few hundred feet.

Once she reached the large, lush, oval-shaped clearing, she jumped down from the tree she had been on, running to the opposite side from the one she had emerged from. There was an adequate low-hanging branch, and she slipped out of the straps of her red travel cylinder with practiced ease, tossing it so that the harness caught on the tree.

She was going to need all the mobility she could get.

Fu spun around as Kakuzu emerged loudly from the foliage at the other edge of the field, pieces of splintered wood on his cloak.

They were about 60 feet away, and neither moved an inch.

She decided to probe him for information, honestly curious about why he had defected from Takigakure, even if she was going to beat him to a pulp in a few minutes.

"So how old are you really? You must be at least a hundred. The reports in Taki on you have gone back for like six decades."

He was silent, and she wondered if he was just ignoring her until his voice ground out from behind his mask. "I will be eighty-nine this fall."

She didn't allow the slight surprise she felt to show. "That's pretty old. So how did Taki ruin _your_ life?" she asked, not without a little venom.

He actually raised a eyebrow, and it disappeared beneath his forehead protector. "I was tasked to assassinate the Shodaime Hokage. And when I inevitably failed, Takigakure reported that I was acting as a rogue in order to save themselves from the retribution and wrath of Konoha, which was much more powerful than them at the time."

"I'm sorry that we have to fight then, as fellow victims of their schemes."

"Indeed. You might have had a good bounty on your head someday." he said, almost regretfully.

Fu laughed humorlessly. "I'm pretty sure if you had waited a week, a really large bounty would have appeared. I only just got out of their grasp for good yesterday, they just don't know it yet."

Kakuzu growled. "Damn. I told him we should have waited."

He removed his cloak, throwing it away into the forest behind him and revealing his bare arms and chest. The exposed skin looked like it was sewn together with that weird black thread, making Fu think of an old rag-doll that had been torn up and repaired a few too many times.

She decided playing around was a bad idea. She needed to end this quickly and get back to help Tayuya.

'_Chomei. I'm going to need your power._'

"**You have it. **_**Crush**_** him.**" his voice was filled with a dark rage she had never heard before.

She released her mental limits on the seal that contained Chomei, and the ground beneath her spider-webbed, the intense pressure of the bijū-chakra laden air too much for it to adapt to so quickly. She was going all out. Four tails. The most she could safely inject into her body without feeling out-of-control or burning up.

Everything was tinged red, the chakra actually becoming visible even though she wasn't manifesting it as a cloak. She had better ways to use it.

Kakuzu watched her cautiously.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and dragged the foreign chakra back into her body as she breathed out, focusing on the custom-developed transformations she needed to use here.

Sight. Armor. Strength. Speed. The whole collection.

It was about as close to becoming Chomei as she could manage while still retaining a human-like form, which she vastly preferred to the bulky large body of a full transformation.

She dealt with her sight first, pulling the details of Chomei's body from her intimate knowledge of him as his host. Her vision which had been black, her eyes still closed, returned sharper. The visor and helmet now encasing her head acted as her sense of sight, allowing her to see both colors that human eyes simply couldn't, and a field of view almost 180 degrees around her.

Next was the armor, and the pieces that came with it. Black chitin grew out of her torso and upper body, forming plates that slid together, leaving no gaps or weak points. Her limbs were more vulnerable, only a very thin layer covering them, but she needed it like that so she could move the way she wanted. Her bones were also affected, and Chomei had explained that they became like a bird's, denser with internal struts, but semi-hollow to offset the added weight.

The important thing was that her squishy human organs were now completely protected, reinforced, and held in a liquid matrix by rubber-like internal fibers that were attached to the innermost plates of the armor. It allowed her to accelerate at rates that would be impossible for any creature without an exoskeleton. She now technically had both: an internal and external framework holding everything in tandem. It made it _very_ hard to hurt her vital organs. Which was the point.

With the armor came the four orange wings which lay down her back, the 'tails' of her partial transformation, which always showed up no matter what she did. She'd tried getting rid of them a few times, but eventually gave up when everything failed.

With the armor done, she moved to her muscles, threading Chomei's chakra through her network with precision only gained from almost a decade of rigorous practice. This and the next step were the hardest. Her muscles used the chakra as an accelerant, an energy boost, but actually getting the chakra from her network into the muscles where it needed to be had taken years.

After that was her nerves, the chakra doing the same thing as her muscles, speeding them up so that her reaction time could now match her muscles. It was even harder, as a human nervous system was embedded within things that were surrounded by the chakra network, but not actually in contact, like the spine and between muscles and bones. Unlike her skeletal muscles, which felt warm and fiery from introducing the bijū-chakra, her nervous system felt like there was a constant electrical current flowing through them, like a high voltage power-line.

While in her mind it had felt like an hour, in reality completing the transformation had only taken about three seconds, and Kakuzu hadn't moved an inch.

Her heart pounded.

Her muscles hummed.

Her nerves crackled.

Her fingers curled into fists.

And she was gone.

The spiderwebs on the ground that had formed from releasing the chakra became a gigantic crater, only wisps of air lingering, vapor forming from the nigh-instant change in air pressure and her inhuman acceleration.

She halted in front of Kakuzu less than a sixteenth of a second later, and saw his eyes widen only slightly before beginning her attack.

He was wide open, no guard, so she focused on his core.

Blows that could shatter tree trunks rained on his abdomen, but they occurred in such quick succession that his body didn't move. Halfway through the series of blows, his chest turned brown and it no longer felt like she was punching flesh, but solid rock.

He flew back, hitting a tree, his feet dragging trenches in the earth, and the tree behind him toppling down. She jumped backwards, landing in the center of the clearing.

"I hope you don't mind if I start things off." Fu's voice was back to arctic cold, and held none of the joking tone she had used before.

"Damn it. I can already tell you're going to be a pain." Kakuzu said, still standing. She expected nothing less from a man that had been able to avoid her kick earlier.

His figure disappeared, a small series of cracks where he had been.

If she hadn't had her enhanced vision, she might have missed his movement.

Might have.

He was very fast.

But she was _much, much_ faster.

She met him in the middle, refusing to allow him to reach her position and take control of the flow of the fight.

A punch aimed at her gut swung towards her, and she deflected it to the side, striking his chest in the opening, but his skin was that same brown color, and resisted her strikes, her hand sparking across the surface.

A knee flew up towards her face, but she blocked it with her right forearm, slapping it back down where it broke part of the ground from the force of her blow. She retaliated with a strike angled toward his face, and succeeded in knocking his mask off, revealing a mouth like a kuchisake-onna.

They separated, and then ran back towards each other, tearing up the landscape with their steps. Strikes and parries were exchanged faster than a human eye would have been able to track. It was obvious that he wasn't.

A thrust at the neck, a solid hit to his jaw, a kick to his right knee (which should have shattered the kneecap), a knee to the stomach. Numerous attacks were exchanged, but everything that connected with his dark-brown skin left no damage. This wasn't working. She needed to try something different.

A fist came towards her head, and she took the minuscule opening that it gave, leaning back to avoid its path. Fu grabbed the forearm with her right hand, and swung around towards his back, using the arm and the tension created by her own weight to increase the speed of the motion. She yanked it behind his back, intending to dislocate the shoulder and break his humerus, but there wasn't the distinctive 'pop-crack' she expected. Instead, the arm just flexed in an impossible direction. Abandoning that plan, she kicked him in the back of the knee with the side of her foot, and forced him down to a kneel, the first truly vulnerable position she had got him in in the entire exchange.

There were four white circle things on his back.

They looked important.

She drew her left hand back and punched one as hard as she could, her fist finally connecting with flesh in the man's body. She pulled it out of the hard shell (porcelain?) as he twisted around, trying to kick her, and she jumped backwards to avoid the foot and to see what the effects of attacking that thing were.

Kakuzu turned around to face her. "I revise my previous statement. You are not skilled at close quarters. You are at the very pinnacle." he pulled his arm back in front of his body. "You managed to take out one of my masks with almost no effort. I have learned my lesson."

His back erupted in a mass of writhing black threads.

"RAAAAAHHHH" he screamed. Four shapes stepped out, and took up positions beside him. Until one on the right collapsed to the ground.

Being able to see beyond the normal spectrum granted her a number of nice things. Like tracking heat with infra-red. And those black monster things? There was only one warm place on their entire surface. The white masks. Which meant they were still the vulnerable point.

But she was now fighting four enemies including him, and needed to focus on each one.

Kakuzu ran though a set of hand seals. "**Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work**" he yelled at her.

One of the masks on his right opened its mouth, and began sucking in air.

That was never a good sign.

And even worse, it made her think of a _bij__ū__dama_.

Fu jumped back further, trying to gain as much distance as possible. The mask spat a ball of flame, which headed towards where she had been standing. Once it connected with the ground, it exploded, creating an incendiary wave of pure fire that quickly filled the entire half of the clearing she was on.

She crossed her hands in front of her face, and reinforced her skin as much as she could, forcing the layers to thicken as much as they could in mere milliseconds. The flames swept over her, and she worried that she would cook inside the hardened shell she had just created, but it dissipated only seconds later, rolling away behind her.

Fu was left steaming, standing at the edge of the charred, barren field, the patchy grass having been burned to ash

"You were able to withstand that technique? You are becoming more and more impressive with each minute, girl." Kakuzu said, his tone surprised and slightly amazed.

Fu refused to respond. That mask had just become the top priority.

She launched off of the ground, disappearing again and reappearing twenty feet in front of the quadruped-shaped thing.

Tendrils shot out of the mass, aiming toward her, and she ran in a zigzag, avoiding them as they pierced the ground around her

"**Lightning Release: False Darkness**" A beam of white light sped at her from the left, and the air around her started smelling like chlorine, like ozone.

She sped up, a spear of lightning missing her by half a foot. It appeared _that_ technique worked best on stationary targets.

The easy solution was to not stop moving.

She reached the base of the fire tendril-monster, and then quickly crouched and jumped, aiming for the mask. Masses of thread aimed for her, and she used them as makeshift footholds to climb closer, finally in front of it, her right fist already drawn back. She punched through the porcelain, and the distinct, sharp '_crack_' it made was intensely satisfying.

The creature collapsed to the ground as she flipped backwards, landed, and retreated again.

Kakuzu growled at her in anger. "_Two_ of my hearts. It has been a long time since that has happened. And never even close to this quickly." Hearts? "Yours will make a good replacement once we've extracted that bijū."

Chomei snarled inside her head.

Her muscles were starting to get uncomfortably hot. She needed to finish this very soon, or she'd overheat.

Since she hadn't seen which of the remaining two the lightning bolt had come from, she was just going to go for the first one that showed an opening.

She dashed towards the one closer to Kakuzu, hoping that the same, or at least similar tactics would work again.

The threads shot out at her as expected, and she avoided them nimbly. Instead of a lightning attack, though, Kakuzu's own fists came swerving towards her from the side. She jumped over one, and kicked the other in midair away from her in the middle of the flip, continuing towards the creature. And then the pattern of threads changed, becoming much thicker and stronger, and one hit her, pushing her back over ten feet.

That changed things.

She rapidly retreated back to the center of the clearing to give herself some room to breathe and try to figure out a new tactic.

Kakuzu turned his head towards Fu's right. "It seems we have a spectator."

* * *

Kakuzu turned his head in Tayuya's direction, and Fu followed his gaze.

The redhead hopped down, and ran over over to stand to the left of the armor-clad girl.

"You took care of Hidan?" Fu asked softly.

She nodded, and saw the slight smile that the other girl gave her for her victory. That single expression managed to get rid of all of the remaining annoyance she had over the cultist.

Kakuzu eyed her. "It seems my… _fanatical_ partner has failed to eliminate you." His voice was tinted with extreme annoyance and anger. "I expected him to have no trouble with you."

Tayuya snorted in amusement at the sheer irony of her pair-up. "Yeah, well. You could say I was the worst possible opponent for him." she replied. He frowned. Was it _really_ that unexpected? "You look like you're not doing too well, either."

"We were misinformed as to the host's abilities." He growled.

"You mind if I use those?" the jinchūriki requested, looking at the swords tied to Tayuya's back.

_Seriously?_

She didn't know how to feel about it. For one thing, she didn't like the thought of other people touching her swords, and she got that weird pressure-y feeling when they weren't in contact with her. But it also felt like Fu would be alright. That she could trust her with them.

Her face must have shown her discomfort because Fu kept going. "I'll be careful. I promise. I only need them for a mo-"

"**Lightning Release: False Darkness**" Kakuzu yelled.

Fu grabbed Tayuya, and jumped away from where they had been standing. A beam of white electricity fried the spot they had been only a second ago.

_Fuck._

They halted twenty feet to the right of where they had been, and Fu looked at her expectantly, waiting for an answer.

Less than three days after she got them, and Fu was going to be the first to really use them in combat. Well, better her than anyone else. And it wasn't really like she could say no. They _were_ kind of in the middle of a fight. And any inhibitions about the girl using them had just been thoroughly destroyed by that lightning bolt.

"Fine."

Fu drew them quickly out of the sheaths and shifted into a stance with Shi in a reverse grip on the left, and Inochi in a forward grip on the right.

"Can you cast a genjutsu? I only need him off-balance for a second." Tayuya murmured an affirmative, pulled her flute out, and raised it to her lips.

Kakuzu hadn't moved and was standing there on guard, eyeing the swords in Fu's hands. The redhead didn't blame him. The other girl definitely appeared to be the main threat between the two of them. She'd have to fix that misconception.

…Again.

_What is it with these guys and underestimating me?_

Tayuya tried to think of what she could use. She'd probably have better luck with the **Phantom Chains** here than with Hidan. Kakuzu didn't look like the type that would bite off his own tongue and then put it back. And Fu had said that she didn't need to hold him long anyways, plus it was the fastest illusion she could cast. Tayuya had learned her lesson with Hidan. No testing abilities. She'd go straight to her more complex techniques.

She started playing, immediately layering the melody four times, with two false world tunes in between the others. This was the second benefit of her abilities to manipulate sound-based genjutsu using Yin chakra, besides the endless repetition. She could create layers of illusions, where escaping from one would lead directly into the other. As far as she knew, she was the only person in the entire world who could do this, simply because of how her genjutsu worked in practice, using overlaid auditory stimuli.

"GRAAAAHHHH" Kakuzu's yells echoed around torn-up landscape

His arms were forcibly drawn up and away from his body, and Tayuya could see the huge muscles in his chest straining against the ones that were pulling his arms up against his will.

That was fairly impressive, as fighting the illusion required you to be able to have equal or greater force than your own muscles in the opposite direction. She strengthened the pressure of the illusion, and his wrists snapped to their apex.

At some signal, the black things began to move closer to Kakuzu, sucking into his body.

"Oh no you don't." Fu whispered under her breath.

She vanished from Tayuya's side.

The sudden void in the air caused Tayuya's hair to whip around, sucked to the right where she had been. The ground seemed to take a moment before it finally registered the unbelievable force that had been placed on it, and then cracked and cratered at the point she had been standing.

There wasn't even a blur between when Fu disappeared, and when she reappeared in front of one of the creatures. It was like instant teleportation, faster than a **Shunshin**. It was horrifically beautiful in Tayuya's eyes, chilling her to the bone.

Was this what it had been like watching the Yellow Flash in action? An overwhelming sense of absolute defeat, with no chance to fight back?

She'd never seen Fu move this fast before. Hadn't even known it was physically possible without time-space manipulation in some way. And yet, somehow, she had just shown she could do it.

Tayuya kept playing her flute, watching the scene in front of her. The black monsters halted, aware of the threat in front of them. Spears of elastic thread lanced out of them, trying to pierce Fu in place.

But she never stopped moving.

It was like watching a blender. Fu spun and twisted, the blades passing through the tendrils like they were only air. The giant creatures seemed to notice that all they were doing was depleting their own body mass, and tried to switch their method of attack.

It was barely a fraction of a second pause, but she took advantage of the opening, launching straight up towards the mask closer to Kakuzu, cracking the ground yet again. The silvery blade was in the white blotch marring its writhing black surface before Tayuya had moved her eyes upwards to follow the movement. She jumped off of the body towards the mask that was only four feet to the left.

It seemed to recognize the threat of assured, imminent death, and exploded like a porcupine in a last-ditch attempt to try and protect itself. Instead of being impaled, however, Fu twisted through the gaps, batting aside the filaments that aimed right at her, and ignoring the ones that scraped past her armor and skin, sparking. She passed right by the mask in an arc, and Tayuya thought she might have missed it, Fu landing on the ground beyond it.

The white blob slowly slid apart, the blade having passed through it in a diagonal from top right to bottom left. And then both monsters collapsed, falling into heaps of black cord, like black wool loosed from a skein.

"GAHHHHRG" Kakuzu's eyes bulged, and then his arms snapped down from their spots. It looked like he had finally broken through all four layers. That was pretty quick. It had been less than ten seconds, total.

Fu jumped backwards twice, rejoining Tayuya forty feet away from him.

"You have destroyed my third _and_ fourth heart." He ground out in barely suppressed fury at them. "Congratulations. You are the first and only opponents to have pushed me so far."

_Hearts!?_ What the fuck was up with this pair? First, one guy who won't even shut up about his god even when you cut off his head, and another who has extra _hearts_!?

"How about I go for five?" Fu asked, her voice devoid of emotion.

"No. Unlike my foolish companion, I know when to retreat." His body became transparent, and collapsed into a puddle of water, reminding the redhead of Orochimaru's infamous mud-clone technique.

"Well, shit." Tayuya concluded. She didn't like the thought of him getting away.

Fu collapsed in heap on her knees, her chest heaving, the swords in her hands rolling out of her grasp on to the ground. "FU!" Tayuya ran to the girl's side. "Fu! What's wrong!? Are you okay!?"

The jinchūriki continued gulping in large breaths of air, and let all of the extra body parts sink into her skin, before that lost its darkened hue as well.

"…Water." she croaked. Tayuya looked around, her eyes landing on the red tube hanging from a tree branch on the other side of the clearing. The side that didn't look roasted to a crisp. She ran over to it as fast as she could, picking it off the limb, and ran back while unscrewing the cap.

She dumped the scroll out, unrolled it, and looked for two of the bottles of water the girl had stored, unsealing them once she found them, and handing them to Fu. The girl unscrewed the plastic cap, but instead of drinking it like Tayuya had assumed she wanted, she tipped it over her head.

The water that hit the girl's skin _steamed_.

Upon closer inspection, her natural butterscotch coloring was much darker than usual, edging on a maroon, flushed from heat and blood. Tossing the bottle aside, Fu picked up the other one and repeated the process, but there was less steam this time.

"…You gonna be alright?" Tayuya had never seen that happen before.

Fu collapsed backwards, staring at the sky.

"I'll be fine." The green-haired girl was still breathing heavily. "Forcing that much chakra inside me for too long makes my body overheat from the extra energy. I usually only do it in short bursts and let myself cool down in between, but I needed it our entire fight."

"Shit. Is that really okay?" That didn't sound fine. It sounded like what happened when you used the curse seal for longer than five hours straight. Which was _not_ pretty a sight.

"I'll need to take it easy for a couple hours. And I'll probably still be pretty sore for a few days. Gods. That was hard. Kakuzu is a monster. _Ancient_. But a monster." Fu rolled her head to look up at Tayuya, who was sitting cross-legged a couple feet from her.

"We talked a little before we fought. Did you know he fought Hashirama Senju?" Tayuya shook her head, and Fu looked back to the sky. "Kakuzu was supposed to assassinate him. And when he obviously failed, Taki shunned him, saying he was working independently in order to save themselves. They really screwed both of us over."

Tayuya scooted closer and touched the girl's forearm. It was still a uncomfortably warm.

So instead, she moved around so that she was behind the girl's head, lifting it up into her lap, and made due with stroking her green hair soothingly. Tayuya didn't know what prompted her to do that, or if it was for Fu's benefit or hers. But it felt like the right thing to do.

"But it doesn't matter. Because they're never gonna fucking touch you again. Not Taki, or those two. So you don't have to worry about them any more. Not as long as I'm here." She stated with conviction.

Fu rolled her head back and looked up. She locked eyes with the redhead, and smiled warmly. Tayuya's heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah. I know."

* * *

**A/N:**

And so, our favorite immortal duo learned that appearances can be deceiving, and that splitting up is a bad idea.

Re-watching parts of Unlimited Blade Works was fantastic fuel for my imagination. It's sooooo pretty. And the fights are soooooo gooooood. And the story. All of it. It's all amazing. I highly recommend it. The first episode has a fight between Archer (EMIYA) and Lancer (Cuchulain), so it's totally worth just trying it out.

I love how Tayuya is clearly a strategist, fighting the battle primarily in her mind, planning out each move and constantly collecting new information to help her win. Fu, on the other hand, is very much a 'let me punch this until it stops moving' kind of girl, and will only change targets if there's a bigger threat than what she's focused on. They contrast and complement each other very well.

I was always underwhelmed by the depictions of the jinchūrikis' abilities in the manga. They never seemed powerful until they got super-big and stuff, which disappointed me. These guys are supposed to be _Naruto_'s equivalent of WMDs. _This_ is what I imagine a fight with a jinchūriki in their prime being like. Complete, total, destruction.

I hope you guys enjoyed that. I had an absolute _blast_ writing this chapter. (Reading over this sentence before posting, all I can think of is Deidara XD )

Did you like it? Did you dislike it? Should I do things like this again?

Please, review and let me know me what you think. Reviews are the best sort of feedback I get, and this was a bit experimental for me.


	13. All's Fair in Love and War

**Disclaimer:** Were Akatsuki members arbitrarily assigned to jinchūriki, with no regards for strengths and weaknesses? If so, I don't own Naruto, nor any of that universe

* * *

**Chapter 13:**  
**All's Fair in Love and War**

Three shadowy, translucent figures stood in front of each other, two facing the third.

"Report," said the one on his own side, facing the others, waiting for an explanation.

Kakuzu started, since Hidan more than likely didn't have anything constructive to say. He hadn't stopped whinging at all since he got his head back on his shoulders. And he had been completely unappreciative of Kakuzu doing that for him. "We were, no, _are_ extremely ill-suited for capturing the Nanabi's host. We failed to retrieve her."

"That red music chick's invincible or immortal or, or… something! She cut off her own fucking arms by attacking me during my ritual and they just flew back! What the hell am I supposed to do against that?" Hidan whined.

"Now you know how I feel," Kakuzu said, amused by the irony.

The man in front of them looked up, his purple, ringed eyes glowing. "Is that true?"

The currently single-hearted man frowned. "I can't confirm it, as I was unable to harm her. However, I can say that she is exceptional in the area of illusions, able to layer four genjutsu simultaneously, two which imitated the real world, and all of the layers were extremely difficult to dispel. But I was primarily occupied with the host of the seven-tails. She is skilled in close-combat to the exclusion of all else." He started to get angry just thinking about it, but put it aside for now in front of Pain. "She was able to destroy four of my hearts using only her speed, strength, and resilience to elemental attacks. Replacing them will be… costly. It will take time before I am able to fight at full capacity again."

"I see. Zetsu."

The black and white man rose out of the floor with a sucking sound.

"Yes, Leader-sama?" the white side asked.

"Where is the jinchūriki and her companion right now?"

Zetsu paused for a moment. "Moving towards the Land of Hot Water. They're going slowly, but will probably cross the border before sunset."

"They are likely traveling to the Land of Lightning because of the host's status. Inform Kisame and Itachi there has been a change of plans. Send them to intercept immediately. It would be very inconvenient if they received asylum and gave Kumogakure a third jinchūriki."

"Yes, Leader-sama." The two-tone man melted back down into the ground, leaving with out a trace.

"We have preparations to make…"

* * *

"Hah, Hah…" Tayuya leaned up against a gigantic tree, trying to catch her breath, looking at Fu who was sitting on the ground next to her. "You know, this is really _not_ my thing, right?"

Fu tried standing up a bit, walking around on shaky legs. "I know. I'm sorry. But it's what we have to work with."

The fight had taken a much larger toll on the jinchūriki's body than either of them had realized initially. She had pulled and torn a number of muscles and the strain of compressed, injected bijū chakra on her muscles and nerves had left her numb and unable to control parts of her body, like her fingers. Chomei was doing his best to try heal the worst of it, but it was slow going. Well, relatively. Fu reported that he had apologized for not being as effective at healing as Kurama, the nine-tails, but that he was still devoting his entire effort to it to try and get Fu back up to working capacity in gratitude for her efforts of both protecting him (and herself) and trying to avenge Kokuo.

And Tayuya? She had no injuries to speak of, thanks to her absolutely ridiculous recently-acquired ability to heal from fatal wounds with no apparent drawbacks. It made no sense. At all. Things like that didn't happen without a price. Tsunade's _Sozo Saisei_, for example, ate up the user's life span like it was nothing (a drawback Orochimaru had tried to remove, and failed, in his quest for immortality). But Tayuya never felt worse for wear after she healed, which in itself was rather concerning, but she'd given up on trying to figure it out, and decided to just accept it for now until she had time to really figure it out.

Which led them to their current situation: her, a ninety-five pound, five-foot-one eighteen-year-old carrying Fu, who was five-foot-four and about twenty pounds heavier. She could do it, but it wasn't easy by any means.

At least when Tayuya and the others in the Four had dealt with that Uchiha brat, they'd taken turns.

It had only been three months ago, and yet it felt like a lifetime.

A different life.

A different self.

She looked at the mint-green-haired girl across from her who was walking between trees haltingly and smiled slightly, an expression she never used to make.

This was infinitely better. And now she couldn't imagine living any other life than the one she currently had. Even if the alternatives were theoretically better, she wouldn't give up what she had now, this life, for anything, ever.

But what would they do once they got to Kumo? Fu would have to be a ninja, being what she was, but what about herself? She didn't really know. Ninja stuff had been all she had known, and she'd always looked down on civilians, but now, after living as one, learning things that were oddly fascinating, she could understand why some shinobi retired early and opened shops (or inns). There was just so much variety that she had never been exposed to.

Oh, she had done what she could while working under the snake-face, but it wasn't much. She'd read all the books and notes on biology that had been everywhere, learned shogi and go in her free time (beating all of the others), and read a veritable library of battle reports, strategies, tactics, and then done war simulations with them. Even the slimy bastard had recognized her as intelligent. But everything she had learned had been applicable to the art of defeating and crushing an opponent.

Then she had learned to make masks. _Masks._ What the hell sort of offensive battle use does a _mask_ have? Almost none. _And_ she was planning on learning how to forge blades. Which also really didn't do anything in a battle. Both produced something that could be _used_ in one, but weren't useful skills in a fight unto themselves. Although working a forge would probably fix the problem of her relatively weak physical strength.

But that still didn't tell her what she _wanted_ to do. To be to other people.

Fu snapped a twig and stumbled, bringing Tayuya's awareness back to reality. The other girl was still trying to to bring feeling back to her extremities, albeit painfully.

…other people didn't matter. The only person whose opinion on her she really cared about was right in front of her.

Wherever Fu was, _that's_ where she wanted to be.

The resolution of her internal dissent caused a warm feeling to settle in her chest. Fu had shown herself to be the most loyal, dedicated person Tayuya had ever known. Granted, most of the people she had known hadn't exactly had a lot of moral fiber, but the point was still valid. And in return, trying to soothe her fears of abandonment and rejection, Tayuya had promised to always be there for her. To protect her.

She had never made such broad or binding promises before those. And yet, they didn't feel restricting or uncomfortable. Not in the slightest. In fact, she'd even say it made her feel _more_ secure, since somehow her strange emotion-logic had decided to interpret Fu's acceptance to mean that she would always want Tayuya around. Which for some reason, was all she really cared about.

Tayuya straightened out from her position against the tree-trunk. Fu had sealed Inochi and Shi into the red tube as she was now being carried in their place. It still made Tayuya feel a bit tingly, but she'd found that being in close contact with the other girl completely negated the sensation, so she wasn't getting irritable about it.

She walked over to Fu who was now stationary with something in her palm that she was looking at intently. Tayuya got closer and was able to make it out. A beetle. And not a small one either.

"Alright, bug girl. Time to keep going," Tayuya said, not unkindly. Fu waited a few seconds and then raised her hand, allowing the black insect to fly off.

"Have a good conversation?" she asked teasingly.

Fu nodded. "Well, as much of a conversation as I can have with them. He had a terribly short attention span for his species."

Tayuya laughed. "I'll have to trust you on that." She got down on one knee, her hands extended behind her, and Fu climbed on her back. "Okay. Let's go for two hours now. See if we can't make it at least _part_-way through Hot Water by sunset."

When Fu seemed settled, she jumped up to the nearest tree branch and climbed higher into the foliage until she was at an appropriate height, and paused.

"Which way?"

Fu pointed off to the right, and Tayuya started jumping in the direction she had been given.

* * *

The rhythmic jostling of her carrier's movements was almost comfortable.

But Fu's nerves and muscles burned like liquid fire.

_It hurt._

There were only a few times she could remember feeling pain like this. Chomei's sealing was the obvious one. But there were others, like the time when she was eight and still in the special training (torture) to help her learn to control her body and Chomei's chakra and had punched a support column in frustration, only to have it crack and fold outwards, the cement ceiling collapsing on her. She had come out of that with more than her a few broken bones.

But she had also been on serious painkillers after that had happened.

She didn't have any right now, despite how much she wished she did.

Her arms and legs were affected the worst, and the first time she'd tried to stand up after the fight, she'd collapsed unexpectedly before the raging sense of pain had rolled over her. Just moving around was agonizing, but she forced herself to do it in order to try and prevent her muscles from locking up.

'**My apologies. I am doing as much as I can to heal you, but my chakra does not have the healing abilities nor the potency that my brother Kurama's does,**' Chomei said in her mind.

'_Thank you. But you've said that twice now. And I've already said it's really okay. I know you can't do any more than you are, so it's alright. You don't have to feel so bad about it._'

'**But I allowed my emotions to get the best of me, which more than likely affected my chakra during your battle, contributing to the state you are currently in.**'

'_Gahhh. It's __**fine**__, Seven. I knew I shouldn't have been in that full transformation for longer than five minutes, but there wasn't much of a choice. And that isn't anyone's fault. It just means I'll have to take it easy for a week or so while you do your thing. Which I'm really grateful for, by the way._'

'**I cannot understand your acceptance of this situation. It is only due to my presence that those two came after you.**'

'_Yes, but there isn't anything else we could do. It's not like you can leave, so the only choice was to fight them. And they shouldn't be able to come after us again for a while, with the damage we gave them._'

'**True. Perhaps this new village would be willing to assist in rescuing Kokuo. I am greatly worried about him, and contact with the others has been nonexistent. But we should be able to talk to both Gyūki and Matatabi once we have met their hosts.**'

Fu 'hmmed' in agreement, and they both went quiet, Chomei focusing on his task of restoring Fu's body.

The hours passed quickly and monotonously. Tayuya was silent, and Fu was unable to think of anything to talk about, so she just settled and rested her head on the redhead's shoulder as they continued east.

They stopped twice more, but finally managed to make it to a small town that was in Hot Water. There was only one inn, single storied, but they got a room without any trouble, the proprietor only caring about their money. They'd decided to stay at the inn for a total of two nights, to give Fu more time to heal and perhaps get her so she could at least walk semi-normally, as the redhead didn't know if she could carry the green-haired girl for an entire day. Fu didn't blame her.

They ate the meager meal that was provided for dinner, and then took a bath to get rid of all the sweat and dirt that they had acquired over the day. _That_ was an… interesting experience, to say the least.

* * *

"S-sorry for making you do this," she stuttered out.

"Nah. It's fine," the redhead responded from her position behind Fu, where she was scrubbing. "You're in no condition to be doing too much yourself, and I'm used to bathing with other people." Her voice was steady and calm, but Fu had seen the absolutely furious blush Tayuya had had when she had seen her.

… Not that Fu hadn't been fighting her own embarrassment. And she hadn't been able to stop herself from taking more than a few glances at her as they were getting undressed.

This was the first time she'd ever really seen Tayuya without clothes. When they'd slept together at Takumi's it had been completely dark, and even though she had gotten some sense from that, she still hadn't gotten to look at her. And they had been fully clothed when sleeping outside last night.

Tayuya was… lithe. That was the best way of putting it. Where Fu was hard and contoured, the redhead was smooth and thinner, as much as a dedicated kunoichi could be. She wasn't very feminine, her figure not showing much of the curves that seemed to be so appealing to men, but that was actually attractive to Fu. It fit Tayuya, and she liked it that way.

She was rather self-conscious about her own looks. She was fully aware of how muscular and well-defined she was, and how unappealing that was to some people. And unlike when Tayuya had been looking for the tracking seal, now the situation really had time to sink in.

Fu was still developing, stuck between childish and mature, so she didn't really have any idea of what she'd end up looking like. She looked down at her bare chest. She was at the lower end of a B cup, and really didn't want to go any higher than a B at all. Despite what people seemed to like and think, breasts and kunoichi did not go well together. They were extra fat and weight, and it tended to be painful if they moved around too much. Being a taijutsu specialist, that was of particular concern to her. _Thankfully_ it seemed that being extremely physical actually kept them from getting very large, which was what she was counting on.

"Alright. I'm done. Can you help with mine?" Fu heard a scraping noise as Tayuya turned around, and she rotated herself on her wooden stool so she was facing the redhead's back. Tayuya was holding a sponge behind her, and Fu took it, beginning to scrub as much as she could with her protesting limbs. It was a rather pathetic effort.

Tayuya's back was small. Fu had never noticed how _delicate_ she was. Well, delicate compared to her and most of the other ninja she knew, at least. And at eighteen, the Uzumaki was more than likely done growing, meaning she'd be this size for the rest of her life. Knowing Tayuya, she probably didn't even think of that as a bother, and just accepted it as fact.

If there was any feature of Tayuya that stood out to Fu, it was her hair. It was such a beautiful shade of red. She'd made peace with her own green hair after Chomei's sealing, but it was still a bit of a sore point. Even if it had been plain brown before, green was just so… ostentatious. Especially being the shade it was.

"Okay." Fu finished up scrubbing and placed the sponge on the floor, slowly standing up and heading in the direction of the bath now that they had both washed off. Her right leg clenched up sharply and she stumbled.

"WHOA!" An arm snaked around her back and caught her. "Be _careful_. Jeez. You almost gave me heart attack."

"S-sorry," Fu apologized, chastised. Except being held up by the other girl was just making it harder for her to focus, the places where their skin was in contact feeling like they were burning. Tayuya helped walk her over to the bath, supporting her on her right as she got into the furo.

"Ohhhhhh…" That felt soooooo good. The warm water was already helping soothe the terrible aching pain, and she sunk lower, her chin dipping below the surface.

"Feels good, huh?" Tayuya asked, smiling at her from her position, sitting perpendicular to Fu a few feet on her left. The jinchūriki blushed, slipping even further below the water to try and hide it as she nodded.

The warmth was relaxing her muscles wonderfully, and Fu allowed herself to just sit and soak, mind blank.

"Gods, this has been a crazy week, huh?" Tayuya commented, breaking the silence.

Fu turned to Tayuya, and lifted her head out of the water so she could respond. "Yeah. It has." First leaving Taki, then traveling through the freezing cold of Iron and finding Takumi, only to find that Taki was tracking them and Fu could inadvertently end up causing a war, leaving Iron the next day and traveling to Fire Country, and then today, where they had been confronted by the strangest and most unexpected pair of ninja she'd ever seen working together. Hidan, who Tayuya had said continued to talk even after cutting off his head, and Kakuzu, who had _extra freaking hearts_.

This had definitely been a weird week. And an emotional trainwreck, despite all the apparent progress in getting closer to Tayuya. "I don't think I really want to do it again anytime soon. Let's just get to Kumo, settle down, and have some downtime."

Tayuya nodded in agreement. "I think I'm going to be a ninja again."

Fu was surprised, although she tried not to show it. She hadn't even known Tayuya was considering other options, although now that it had come up, she supposed that she could see the girl doing something else, with the skills she knew and the others she wanted to learn: ninja mask-making, smithing, and sealing. All of which were very specialized and in high demand.

But the thought of not being with Tayuya while she was on missions, where she might be gone for long stretches of time with no contact, just didn't sit right with her. And the thought of the possibility that the redhead felt the same way made her euphoric, light-headed and dizzy with happiness.

"What?" Tayuya asked, looking at her.

Fu registered that she was grinning, and forced her expression back to a more normal state. "Nothing. I was just thinking about doing missions together," she explained.

The Uzumaki smiled. "Yeah, that's going to be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to it."

A large warmth of emotion exploded in Fu's chest. Auuuggghhh. Tayuya was making this so _difficult_. Fu had a _plan_. And she really didn't want to try and enact it now. It would just add to the emotional upheaval of the entire week. Better to wait until they were somewhere calm and settled.

The heat of the water was starting to make her woozy, so Fu slowly hoisted herself out of the water and onto the surrounding tile, flushing again when she felt Tayuya's eyes land on her.

"You done?"

Fu nodded in response. The redhead stood up, and Fu couldn't stop herself from watching the water run off of her creamy skin. _Stupid hormones._

Tayuya waded over to her, climbing onto the tile, and helped Fu stand, walking back with her to the lockers where their clothes were, Fu managing on her own now that the water had helped loosen up the tension in her legs.

After getting dressed, they went back to the room, where Tayuya promptly fell asleep on her futon, absolutely exhausted from the day. Fu lay down next to her, just as tired.

'_Chomei, I'm going to sleep now_'

"**I will endeavor to do as much as I can while you are unconscious. Perhaps it will help with the process.**'

'_Thank you. Goodnight, Seven._'

'**Goodnight**'

She fell asleep thinking despite all of the trouble and craziness they'd gone through this week, it had been one of the best she'd ever had.

* * *

Breakfast was another simple standard meal provided by the inn, consisting of fish, miso soup, and rice. Afterwards they relaxed in the room, Fu lying on a futon in silence, resting, while she talked to Chomei about the battle the day before as he continued to try and heal her. Tayuya sat at the small table in the room, reading through some of the history of Uzushiogakure in the book from her father, enraptured by the details and stories of her ancestors.

It was peaceful.

But it didn't last.

* * *

A knock on the door disturbed the silence.

"I'll get it," Tayuya said. She closed the leather book and sealed it back into her hand, moving towards the door. It was probably just the innkeeper or something.

"Yeah? What is i–" She opened the door and her blood froze. "**FUCK!**"

Fu started, and got up as quickly as she could with her abused legs. She looked in the direction her voice had come from, and just groaned.

Two men stood in the doorway. Both were wearing those same black cloaks with red clouds as the two guys yesterday. There were more of these people than just Hidan and Kakuzu. They hadn't thought of that.

One was very tall with blue skin, hair that went straight up, and small eyes with black marks under them. He had a slashed through hita-ite with four wavy lines, and a handle stuck up over his shoulder. It ended in a tiny skull.

The other man was pale in comparison, with a blank face and long tear-troughs under black eyes. His jet-black hair fell over a slashed Konoha forehead protector, reaching to the bottoms of his ears.

"Hello." The blue-skinned man grinned widely at her, showing off his _very_ pointy teeth. "We thought we'd be polite and ask if you'd like to come quietly without fighting. It would mean less… destruction."

Fu walked forward, trying not to appear injured, and leaned against the wall of the short hallway, three feet behind Tayuya. "Kisame Hoshigaki, Monster of the Mist, ex-member of the Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū. And Itachi Uchiha, the Clan Killer. What a surprise. What's with the whole black cloak thing, some kind of S-rank missing-nin exclusive club? Shouldn't I get an invitation?" Kisame grinned even more at his name.

_Fuck._ This Uchiha was the guy Orochimaru had tried to get the Sharingan from first. And had been _defeated_ by.

"We wanted to apologize for the bad impression that the other two may have left on you about our group. Losing to you like that and all," he said in a sorrowful tone, shaking his head in mock disapproval. "It's almost pitiful."

A stream of obscenities flew through Tayuya's mind. What was the expression? Out of the frying pan, and into the fire?

"Can you guys just leave us alone? All we want is some goddamn time to relax," Tayuya said.

Itachi looked at her. "Unfortunately, no. We have need of the Nanabi's host."

Tayuya instantly became annoyed. If there was anything that could rile her up, it was subhuman treatment of her best friend. "Her _name_ is Fu. She's a person. You could at least give her some fucking respect for the shit she's had go through because of her status," she snapped.

"Oh-ho! Looks like she's got some bark to her!" Kisame nudged Itachi in the shoulder with his elbow.

"Fu, then. We have need of Fu," Itachi conceded.

"No. Fuck no. I made a promise to protect her," Tayuya ground out behind clenched teeth.

This was looking bad. She needed to get ready for a fight. Now. She put her emotional guard up as fast as she could.

"Can we start already? I'm itching to do this. And there's nowhere for them to run." the blue-skinned man asked.

"I see," Itachi said in reply to her response, and his eyes flashed red. _Shit! Sharingan._

She checked her chakra network for anomalies. There was foreign chakra. A genjutsu. She halted her chakra flow, and expelled the foreign pieces. Fucking Uchiha. Genjutsu with eye contact. Right. This suddenly became a lot more difficult.

A object wrapped in cloth was swinging down at her. She rolled to the back and to the right, the thing crashing through the floorboards, throwing bits of wood and splinters everywhere.

"I thought you got her!"

"I did. She broke the genjutsu in less than a second. She seems to be very intelligent and skilled, despite her language. And as intimately familiar with illusions as Kakuzu implied," Itachi explained.

"A budding genjutsu mistress? Well, how about that."

"I would argue that she already is, of the highest caliber," the Uchiha countered. Why the hell were they _bantering_? Did they not even view her and Fu as worthwhile opponents?

Tayuya turned around and sprinted down the short hallway back into the larger space of the room. Fu was already there.

The green-haired girl exploded, chakra pouring out of her pores, crushing the tatami below her, and then it sucked back into her skin. Her appearance becoming the same as the day before.

Fu gasped in pain. "I can't hold this for long. We need to make this quick," she said, her voice strained and taut. Tayuya nodded in acknowledgment.

Genjutsu were completely out because of that Sharingan (fucking eyeballs!), which severely limited her abilities. All she had left were the doki, which she couldn't summon in such a confined space, and her chakrams.

She spun a dozen up around her body, and immediately launched them through the closet that bordered the entrance hallway, towards where the actual door was. They tore through the wall like it was paper, and she listened for any indication that they had connected.

Kisame walked calmly into the open space. "That's not going to work, missy. Samehada liked the snack, though."

She connected the dots in her head. Shit. Something that could eat attacks. Probably chakra. She needed to warn Fu.

But the jinchūriki was already in front of Kisame, testing for a weak spot in his defense.

"FU! STAY AWAY FROM THE–" she yelled hurriedly. Fu's fist lashed out towards the blue man, and was blocked by the cloth-covered thing she now presumed was some kind of blade. "–sword."

Fu stumbled sideways. "W-what?" Her skin had lightened significantly from its armored state.

Kisame took advantage of the opening, and swung directly at the girl. Spikes stuck out from the cloth, and screeched against Fu's remaining body armor, the force of the blow succeeding in knocking her through the wall into the room next door. Luckily, it seemed vacant.

"Looks like your girlfriend figured it out already. She _is_ a smart one. Meet Samehada, my sword. He eats chakra." _goddammit._ "He doesn't seem to like yours, though. Too earthy."

A close combat kenjutsu user, with the ability to absorb chakra. And a Sharingan wielder, that would cancel her genjutsu. If Kakuzu and Hidan had been the best opponents for them, these were the worst. That was probably intentional.

Kisame swung the weird sword a couple times, making the hole Fu had flown through wider, and followed her into the adjacent room.

…Where the hell was Itachi? She wasn't in another illusion, and she didn't _think_ he could turn invisible. She lowered herself into a stance, and looked around the room.

"It seems like you noticed." She heard his voice, and instinctively turned towards it in defense. He stood in the short hallway that led to the door. What the hell was up with his eyes? That wasn't the Sharingan– Oh. Fuck.

"Tsukuyomi," he intoned softly.

The world abruptly shifted.

Tayuya stood on a barren plain. A red moon hung in orange sky, dark clouds drifting across it slowly. The ground was black, and looked like a fine black dust.

Another goddamn genjutsu. She halted her chakra flow.

Nothing happened.

Itachi appeared before her and spread his hands. "This," he gestured around them, "is the world of Tsukuyomi. You cannot escape. I control everything here. Including time."

That wasn't possible. Genjutsu were only illusions, and time moved at the same rate inside as outside. It was a fundamental rule of how they functioned. They couldn't alter reality.

"For the next 72 hours, you will experience what you fear the most," he told her.

_W-what? What the fuck could that possibly mea–_

And then Fu was suddenly kneeling in front of Tayuya. Her face was twisted in sadness and betrayal. The girl's eyes watered, and held only shock and resignation. Dirt marred her beautiful face, and her green hair was browned and muddy.

A ninjato sat in her chest, between the fourth and fifth ribs. Through her heart. Tayuya's hands gripped the hilt tightly, her knuckles white. Blood spread outwards from the site of the wound, wicked into the ivory cotton of her shirt, staining it red. A droplet of blood fell from the corner of Fu's mouth, landing on the black ground.

"W-why? All I wanted was for you to love me," she whispered sadly.

The light left her orange eyes. Her head fell forward limply.

Fu's body slid backwards off of the blade, and Tayuya dropped the weapon in shock, where it fell and clattered loudly on the floor. Her hands were covered in something sticky. She knew it was blood.

Her emotional guard cracked, shattering to pieces and flooding her with feelings that she couldn't hold back.

Tayuya fell to her knees. Her hands shook like leaves as she reached for Fu's lifeless body. She gripped the edge of the girl's shirt, bloody fingerprints staining the fabric.

"B-but. No. NO. I do! I _DO_!" she sobbed.

"_I love you!_"

The scene disappeared, Itachi blinking into existence in its place. "That was one second. You have 71 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds remaining."

Her emotions, fresh and raw from the inhumane psychological torture, lashed out, seeking a target, and latched onto the source of her anguish.

Itachi.

This was _his_ fault. Her blood steamed in her veins, already beyond boiling.

He invaded her mind, her _soul_, and found the one thing that would cause her the most pain, using it and perverting it to snap her mind like a twig.

It had been so abrupt, so realistic, that she had been caught off guard. How could you prepare for something like that? How could you ready yourself? But now that she was aware of the way it worked, that it was just part of the genjutsu, she regained some of her senses.

It was an illusion. It wasn't real. And all genjutsus had one thing in common.

They were made of Yin chakra. She could exploit that.

Manipulating Yin chakra was _instinctual_ to her. Like using a familiar limb.

She smiled at Itachi viciously. "That was a big mistake." He just stared at her silently.

She reached out with her awareness, and found the threads that wove the false reality together. She searched for a weakness. A few of the strands here and there were thinner. So she gripped them with her mind, and _pulled_ on the world. _Willing_ the construct to destabilize. Taking control of the chakra that he was manipulating in her brain.

"You can just go fuck yourself." The scenery around them exploded into whiteness.

And then she was back. In the real world.

Fu was still in front of Kisame in the other room, trying to find an opening and use it. But her armor was now gone, and she was breathing heavily. The now-scaled blade trapped her wherever she went, and she made every attempt to avoid contact with it.

Itachi groaned, leaning sideways on the wall, and Kisame called out to him. "What the hell's wrong?"

"She was able to rip apart the illusion by force. I was not aware that was possible for a non-Sharingan wielder," he answered.

"Yeah, well fuck you too, buddy," Tayuya cursed, panting. That had taken a lot out of her.

"Switch?" Kisame called out. Switch? What did he– Oh no. Nononono.

"Yes." Itachi's cold voice replied.

Kisame jumped backwards through the hole, into the room where Tayuya was, and Itachi stepped through it in the opposite direction.

Shitshitshitshit. She couldn't do close combat. Especially not against someone who could suck out your chakra. She hastily spun up a series of chakrams, and tried throwing them at Kisame and Itachi's back, hoping that she could get a lucky hit in and cause some serious damage.

Kisame just waved his sword in a wide arc and intercepted all of the rings while walking towards her, not even looking at them. They disappeared like they had never been there.

Then he was in front of her, looming over her, grinning toothily.

"Goodnight." With a single blow to the back of her head, she fell forward into blackness.

* * *

Fu ran at Itachi in desperation, literally on her last legs. Instead of trying to counter the blows that had caused craters around the room, he stared directly into her eyes.

"Tsukuyomi"

The girl stopped dead. Her face went white and she collapsed to the floor bonelessly.

"That was… interesting," Itachi remarked.

Kisame looked back over at him. "What was?"

"They shared the exact same illusion, only from inverted perspectives. I've never heard of that happening before," he explained.

"Today's just a day of firsts for you then, huh?" Kisame rolled Tayuya over on the floor with his foot. "You sure I can't just kill her?"

"According to Zetsu, Hidan reported she had the ability to heal from mortal wounds. It would be pointless."

"Well, yeah, I know. But I can try can't I?" He laid Samehada across the girl's thighs, and then yanked it sharply.

Her skin and muscle became caught on the razor sharp scales, and tore away from her legs, leaving chunks impaled on his weapon. Kisame held up the very bloody sword. A second later, all of the tissue and meat that was on the blade flew back to the girl's legs, reassembling itself, leaving creamy skin, and a relatively tiny amount of blood on Samehada.

"That's _creepy_, really entertaining, but creepy. It's a good thing you thought of knocking her out. You sure I can't bring her with me just for the hell of it?"

"No. Our orders are only to deliver the host of the Nanabi to the location of the sealing. Nothing else."

Kisame sighed. "Man. You take the fun out of everything," he grumbled, expressing his disappointment.

"So you say," Itachi responded flatly. He picked up the green-haired girl and hoisted her onto his shoulder. "Let's go." He walked through the destruction towards the door of the room.

Kisame returned Samehada to his back and followed him.

"I still think she could have made a great stress reliever."

* * *

Tayuya was floating in a grainy slate-colored haze.

Wherever she looked, there was nothing, not even her own body.

A voice that reminded Tayuya of the rays of the sun sounded through the space.

Warm, yet piercing and clear.

"_Your time is running out, young one. Hurry. Hurry, or all will be lost._"

* * *

Tayuya woke with a gasp. Her head throbbed. What had-

Her eyes shot open, staring at the white ceiling, and she sat up quickly. They had fought two more people with those black cloaks in their room. And they had been _completely_ outmatched and outmaneuvered.

Fu's red scroll-holder lay uncapped against the wall.

Fu.

Oh gods. They had taken her. They had taken her. _They had taken her._

_She had broken her promise._

She wanted to cry. She wanted to sob. She want to kill everyone who was involved. To inflict the same pain on them they had on her. To take away what was most precious to them.

She looked at her bracelet. It pointed away from her.

She would go. She would get Fu back.

She had a promise to keep. She intended to try until her own dying breath.

And she would kill _anyone_ who got in her way.

* * *

Tayuya ran.

She didn't stop running. Food and water didn't seem important.

She didn't know how much time she had been unconscious on the tatami floor of the inn. It hadn't felt like long, but she hadn't stopped to ask. There was no time. It could have been days, and every second mattered.

She disregarded safety, and ran straight through Fire Country. Detours would only slow her down.

She passed within miles of Konohagakure.

She didn't care. They couldn't stop her.

Her mind was only focused on one thing: What she had realized in that fucking genjutsu. What she hadn't been able to admit to herself. What she hadn't been able to say out loud.

What she _needed_ to tell Fu.

That she was utterly and completely in love with her.

* * *

**A/N:**

Fucking _finally_, you oblivious redhead. I love you, but you're so _dense_.

I will be the first to admit that both of them are more than a little codependent on the other. It's what comes with next-to-none social interaction and then a sudden intense relationship. Tayuya even knows it, as she's noted it a couple times, but she just doesn't care, for various reasons.


	14. Only Nine, Only One

**Disclaimer:**

Did the time between Gaara's capture and the completed extraction of Shukaku seem a whole lot less than three days? If so, I don't own Naruto, or any of the related universe.

* * *

**Chapter 14:**  
**Only Nine, Only One**

Nine figures sat on the up-turned glowing fingers of a giant statue. Only one was free of any presence, empty, unadorned.

Nine white eyes were open on the wooden behemoth. Only one had an tar-black iris, staring off towards something only it could see.

Nine dragons reached from its gaping maw. Only one body floated in the encapsulating mass of energy, arched in painful agony.

Nine minutes remained.

Only Nine.

* * *

"S-so. This is it then. Death by extraction." She was barely able to keep her voice calm and unwavering. "I-I guess this was really the only way it was ever going to go, wasn't it?"

Fu turned her head in the silence of her mindscape to look at the large kabutomushi at her right, still within the triangle of three walls. She had escaped to here once the pain of the process had really hit her. Her body was on autopilot now, and had been for what felt like days. It still reacted to the torture, but her mind was completely disconnected from it.

"**Indeed. I am extremely dissatisfied with this ending. But I go peacefully in the knowledge that we did what we could, and that events were beyond our control**"

Fu nodded, sniffling.

"I know that. I know. I know we did our best. But…. I don't" She took in a hiccuping gulp of air. "I don't _want_ to die. I had things I needed to do! I still… I just wanted to be _happy_." She wiped away at the tracks of tears on her face with the back of her hand, but they just kept re-forming.

"**I understand. And I cannot help but feel regretful in the knowledge that it was my presence that was the origin of all your trials.**"

She shook her head in vehement denial. "No! No. I'm not. I'm not sorry. Even with everything. I'm still glad I was your host. If you weren't here. I never would have experienced any of this. I would have just been a plain civilian girl, never knowing what the outside of her village was like." Fu leaned back against the stone/metal wall's edge that she was sitting by. "And I never would have met her." she whispered.

Tayuya. The one person that even now she couldn't stop thinking about. How would she take this? What was going through her mind right now? Fu had no delusions of being rescued. She had seen the collection of people involved in this. She had only been joking when she had asked if it was an S-rank club, but it really was. Along with the four she had already met, she had recognized Akasuna no Sasori and Deidara of the Bakuha Butai. She didn't know the others. And there was the man they all called 'Leader', whose presence had given her chills even though he had never looked in her direction.

"**This is true. And I know that even I, despite the millenia I have existed, have grown to understand humanity much better in these past nine years because of you. Because you refused to believe that we are demons. Because you befriended me.**"

Chomei's shape jumped and flickered, imitating a broken television screen as the walls around them started to split and crumble silently. Pain radiated throughout her, like her entire body was in the grips of some giant, red-hot, spiked vice that continued to squeeze tighter and tighter, impaling her organs and muscles and then crushing them, burning the areas around the wounds.

"W-what's going on?" she gasped out.

"**Our time together is at an end. I have maintained my consciousness here for as long as I could, but almost all of my chakra has been removed, and I am reaching the point where I am unable to continue manifesting. Your chakra network is collapsing. You feel the pain here in your mind, because it is so entangled with this place.**"

She doubled over, rolling onto the floor as she grit her teeth and tried to concentrate on his words, forcing herself to keep from blacking out.

"**Fu, I will rememb-**" The bijū vanished without warning, cut off in the middle of his words.

He was gone. And she was all alone, in the echoing silence of the cracking and disintegrating mindscape that reflected the damage occurring in her body.

Tears leaked from her eyes. She didn't know if they were from the pain that made her think her insides were being eviscerated, or the heart-rending loneliness and sadness of the fact that she would die alone, with nobody at her side.

Not even the girl she cared about most.

* * *

Zetsu (the black side) spoke up from his location, the only one who occupied a little finger. "She's here."

Kisame grinned. "I told you she would come." He sounded extremely self-satisfied.

"We are almost done. Focus on the sealing." a voice from her left. Pain.

Yahiko's body's head turned to Konan in the almost-darkness, their faces only illuminated by the light of the _Gedō Mazō_.

She and the Paths were present in their real bodies, instead of using the Magic Lantern technique as usual, because of this girl, and the possible threat she posed. She didn't understand why Nagato thought that the situation necessitated their physical presence, but he had ordered it, and his word was absolute.

She nodded to him in recognition of his unasked request, and flakes of white curled off of her body, floating lazily as they temporarily hung in the air until she sent the flurry flying through the large, mostly-empty cave towards the entrance, and pushed them through the hairline cracks around the large stone that sat in front of it.

On the other side, the sheets exploded out into the air like water from a dam, allowing Konan to 'look' at the girl for the first time using the chakra in her paper.

She was stunned.

The others' reports hadn't done her justice.

Her hair was red. Not just red, but the _exact same shade as Nagato's_. There was such a resemblance to his younger self, Konan could have mistaken her for his sister if she didn't know any better.

A large… tube? colored similarly to her hair sat on the girl's back, suspended by straps that crossed her torso. Her clothes and skin were slightly dirtied, like she had run here the entire way non-stop. Which must have been the case.

Collecting herself, Konan directed the sheets to form into a clone, focusing her consciousness into the manifestation. It took the appearance of her body inside of the cave, coloring to match once the paper settled. Blue hair. Amber eyes. Black cloak. Crimson clouds.

The red-haired girl stood in front of the main tag for the Five-Seal Barrier that protected the entrance, looking at it with half-lidded eyes. It was placed on the large stone that Konan had just squeezed around, making the area outside of the cave immune to physical harm within a half-mile circle. Unless it was deactivated from the inside, there was no way to get around it besides disabling all five anchors simultaneously. Which was why she was so dubious of the girl being a threat.

"What is your business with the Akatsuki?" She hovered a few feet above the girl and to her right.

The girl ignored her, still looking at the red tag that had the word 'forbidden' written on it

She stepped forward and touched the tag, closing her eyes, holding a half-ram handseal with her right hand. A crimson haze appeared around her body, flowing towards the tag.

Konan moved closer to the girl and the tag. "If you continue to do that I will have t-" A collection of _things_ flew at the paper clone, ripping it to shreds before she could even react. She tried to re-configure the sheets to compensate for the lost material, but so much paper had been disintegrated by the surprise attack that it was all she could do to maintain the general shape, not even close to allowing for any kind of offensive action with it now.

"What is she doing?" Yahiko's voice sounded in her ears.

"She's channeling chakra into one of the barrier anchors." Konan responded inside the cave. "I attempted to prevent her from tampering with it, but she caught me off-guard with an attack that nearly destroyed the clone. I am currently only able to watch. Should I create another?"

"Hm." he responded non-commitally.

Back outside, the girl opened her eyes fully and turned to Konan's manifestation, hatred burning in them. "You all can go to hell." She continued pushing chakra into the tag, and in a flash, it detonated.

Konan's full awareness snapped back to her real body sharply from the total destruction of her clone. A loud blast shook the cave, and then four smaller rumblings that sounded when the additional energy cascaded through the remaining anchor points, collapsing the now completely overpowered and asymmetrical array. Light streamed in through the tunnel leading to the entrance.

"She was able to overload the seal matrix." she stated in explanation. Which should have taken a truly astronomical amount of chakra. Above three or four tails from a bijū.

Deidara opened his only visible eye. "A fantastic expression of true art! Un!" he chirped happily, nodding to himself in appreciation for the wonderfully large explosions.

Sasori growled from his finger.

The girl had been showing an unusual amount of anger, waves practically rolling off of her. They had never thought that anyone would have such a strong reaction to the retrieval of a jinchūriki. Usually nobody cared about what happened to the containers. No one had even attempted to locate the host of the five-tails once he had been captured. But this girl was defying that assumption, matching what Kisame had described (and Itachi had stoically corroborated) about her.

Yahiko's body stood up. "I will greet our… _guest_, finish the sealing. It is almost complete."

He stepped off of the thumb he was perched on, landing crouched on the floor with a dull 'thud', and walked to the side of the room. Three figures appeared in front of him. A large bald man with black spikes protruding from his skull, the Asura Path, a man with flat orange hair, the Preta Path, and another with long orange hair, the Human Path, all wearing the same black cloaks with red clouds.

Yahiko's body removed his ring and handed it to the Asura Path, who jumped back up onto the finger and sat back into a lotus position and began channeling chakra to the statue.

The sound of footsteps echoed from the tunnel entrance, but instead of the soft sounds that she expected, there was a sharp crunching and cracking that made her think of ice. Konan watched, actually curious as to what would happen.

The girl stepped into view. Her anger had not abated with the destruction of the barrier. If anything, it had grown.

The area immediately around her was visibly colder than the rest of the air, frost forming and spreading at the edges of the tunnel and the floor around her feet with every step, creating the distinctive crunching sound that Konan had heard. Did this girl have the ability to use Hyōton? Nothing she had done until now (according to the others) had suggested she did.

Invisible ring-like objects orbited around her body, only detectable by the slight warping and distortion of the light behind her and the condensation in the air immediately around her. They circled like captured satellites, both clockwise and counterclockwise, constantly moving, never pausing. Some were only inches away from her body, while others were nearly a foot. Was she controlling them herself? There had to be more than a dozen of the disturbances acting independently of each other, never repeating the same path or colliding, which hinted at her having _impossible_ levels of control over her chakra, and that she was moving them all reflexively, without conscious thought.

It now made sense why Pain wanted to be here.

This girl was displaying abilities on-par or above other Akutsuki members. Based on the quick destruction of the barrier, her chakra levels either rivaled or exceeded Kisame's. Her control was unheard of, presumably allowing her to tear through Itachi's ultimate, unbreakable genjutsu like it was nothing. And she could reportedly heal from any wound within seconds, ignoring normally fatal injuries as if they weren't even an inconvenience, a healing ability even stronger than Hidan's.

She was an absolute monster.

Just like they were.

"I am going to _**destroy**_ you." the girl growled. Her hair looked like it was on fire with the light from the cave entrance behind her, leaving her face shadowed in darkness. Konan thought it was oddly appropriate considering the unadulterated rage she was expressing, despite the fact that it was in complete opposition to the frost and ice surrounding her. Or perhaps the juxtaposition was what made it seem so fitting.

The Preta Path stood in front of her. "I can't allow you interfere in our work." Nagato said, speaking through the body's mouth.

He reached towards her, and she jumped back into the tunnel. Five of the circular distortions broke out of orbit, aiming for him. They headed towards various points of his body: neck, heart, arm, legs, but the Preta Path simply stood there in front of her. When they reached him, they dissipated into eddies of air, not harming him at all.

The girl was unperturbed, her expression unchanging, and she ran towards the Human Path on her left, throwing more of the circle-objects. The Path leaped sideways, revealing Yahiko's body, which simply held up a hand.

"**Shinra Tensei**"

The rings and the girl flew backwards towards the Preta Path, blown back by the force of the gravitational disturbance. He reached out a hand and plucked her out of the air by the back of the neck, forcing her down to her knees before she could retaliate. The rings that came toward him mostly dissipated, but one still hit the girl, severing her left arm, which fell to the floor with a wet 'thump' and a splatter of blood.

After a second the arm flew back into place, fusing without leaving any mark whatsoever.

"Even while I am drawing on all of your chakra, you are still able to heal. Very impressive." he commented. The redhead seethed, glaring at him.

She spat at him. "Fuck you."

Yahiko's body clicked his tongue as he walked towards her, feet tapping on the stone floor.

"Are you against our mission? We are trying to-"

"I want _Fu_." she ground out between gritted teeth towards the newcomer in front of her. "I don't give a _flying fuck_ about whatever the hell you're trying to do. I just want my friend back."

The actions of the girl betrayed her intent. She had entered the cave in a blind fury, obviously with the full intent to kill everyone in order to save the jinchūriki. Even though she had already been defeated once by members of their group, she had come anyways. Those were the actions of someone acting in desperation. Someone trying to save a person they loved.

Konan was beginning to draw some uncomfortable parallels between what was happening here and the events with Hanzo that caused Yahiko's death.

Death of one, to save another.

Death of a loved one, to save the world.

She hardened her heart. She had sworn her allegiance to Pain and his vision, and she would follow him to the bitter end, even if it led her to hell.

Yahiko's body looked at the girl's position on the ground. "I do not wish to kill you, and it seems I might not even be able to, based your abilities. However, I cannot allow you to interrupt our work." Konan knew he didn't believe that. If he had to, he would use the Human Path, which was why it was there. "But, I am generous. I will allow you to see the host's last moments, out of respect for your companionship."

The Preta Path picked the girl up by her neck, and she attempted to twist out of his hand, but managed little more than crudely flailing her limbs.

He carried her over to the edge of the swirling ball of chakra and ether that swirled in the center of the room, forcing her back down to her knees. She looked into the bright blue light, straining, her eyes darting about until they lit upon the arched figure of the other girl, orange chakra streaming out of her.

"FU!" The girl struggled even harder against the Preta Path's grip, and nearly succeeded in escaping.

"Konan. Restraints."

She sent a dozen pieces of paper from her body to surround the girl's legs and anchor her to the ground, hardening them as much as possible and making them stronger than steel.

"No! No! Fu! FU!" the girl yelled desperately, fearfully, struggling against the sheets that held her to the floor.

With a slurping sound, an iris opened on one of the eyes of the statue. The light from the nine dragons vanished, shrouding the cavern in a murky darkness that was only faintly illuminated by the entrance. The jinchūriki's lifeless body fell to the ground, crashing into the floor, the sound bouncing through the room over and over.

"It is complete. Thank you for your work, everyone." Pain said, looking up at all of the people who sat on the fingers.

The members of the group stood up slowly and, one by one, they disappeared, ending the Magic Lantern. Only Zetsu, Konan, Kisame, Itachi, and the Paths were truly in the chamber. Zetsu sunk into the floor, while Kisame and Itachi walked toward the already-open entrance, Kisame glancing back at the girl on the floor before following after Itachi, who had already moved ahead.

All of the Paths other than Yahiko's body slunk into the shadows, and Konan heard the slight 'poof' as they were reverse-summoned to Amegakure one at a time.

The Preta Path released the redhead who was still struggling, and Konan deactivated the paper restraints in response, pulling them back to her body where they were reabsorbed.

"FU!" The girl screamed, running to the form of the jinchūriki on the floor, desperately trying to find a sign of life in the empty husk of a body.

Didn't she know it was pointless?

* * *

Tayuya fell to her knees on the bare ground next to her friend. "FU!" Tears of frustration and helplessness blurred her vision.

No. No. _No._

She couldn't be dead. She _couldn't_ be. There had to be something she could do.

Her mind spun, driven by her desperation, trying to think of something, _anything_.

Fu had described what it was like having a bijū extracted, and how it wasn't the extraction that was bad, but the physical after-effects. How it would leave chakra pathways collapsing, unable to adjust to not having the continuous flow of large amounts of bijū-augmented chakra.

Maybe she could emulate it.

Tayuya placed her right hand on the girl's chest, where her triangular seal used to be, and concentrated, forcing chakra into Fu's body like she had with that barrier tag, hoping against all odds that this crazy idea might work. Forcing herself to believe it would.

Fu's eyelids flickered for a moment, and then opened slowly.

Tayuya gasped, laughing uncontrollably in momentary relief.

"T-Tayuya?" her voice was raspy and hoarse from screaming in pain. She tilted her head slightly towards the redhead, looking, searching for her face.

"I'm here. I'm here." She grabbed the girl's right hand with her own. With the one that wasn't acting as the massive channel.

"I need. I need to tell you… something. Something important." She seemed so weak. So frail. She couldn't even grip the hand she was holding.

Tayuya laughed sadly, hollowly. "Yeah, I have something to tell you too."

"These last few months… were the best of my life. I'm happy… they were with you." Fu whispered haltingly.

Tayuya smiled, wet trails running down her cheeks, dropping onto the floor, staining the slate dark. "Yeah."

"I'll always… remember them." Fu's eyes focused on the red tube that was on her back, and then turned back to her face. "Take… good care… of it. Promise?" Tayuya nodded silently.

She needed to say it, _now_. Needed to tell her. Needed to let her know, before it was too late. Before it was impossible.

Tayuya took a shaky breath. "I love you." her voiced wavered like a reed in the wind as she said it. It wasn't as she imagined it would sound. Not what she had wanted it to sound like.

But it was what she had said.

Fu reached a weak hand up, and she helped lift it up to her cheek where she held it tightly in place. Fu ran her thumb along the ridge of bone below Tayuya's eye, wiping away the tears. Her hand was so cold. So cold, like ice.

"Don't… cry."Her mouth quirked into a ghost of a smile. "I love you… too. I'll always… love you." Fu's eyes began to droop. "Never… forget that."

The girl's chest stopped its shallow rise and fall.

"No! NO!"

Tayuya forced more chakra, as much as she could, down her hand and into the girl's chest. Her palm glowed red, the amount coming out of the tenketsu more than it could handle. Her body lit up like an incandescent lamp, the speed that she was pulling the energy from her core to her arm causing the pathways to glow from sheer friction, displaying an amazing sight normally only available to the Byakugan. Except she didn't even notice, her eyes only on the calm face of the green-haired girl in front of her.

"_NO!_ Don't leave me! You _can't_! _You can't!_" she yelled.

But Fu didn't move, and Tayuya knew knew she was gone.

Dead.

She collapsed, sobbing, onto the ex-jinchūriki's chest. "I made you a promise…. you, you can't just leave me behind like this." Her tears flowed down her cheeks, soaking into Fu's white shirt. " I-I need you! We were going to-"

A stone skittered across the floor behind her. She whirled around, reminded that there was someone else in the cave. Her eyes fell on the blank face of one of the orange-haired, purple-eyed men who had talked to her. Who had stopped her. Had subdued her. Had prevented her from saving the one person who had needed her. _Whom she had sworn to care for and protect._

Tayuya's face took on an expression of pure hatred, her blood boiling once more. "**YOU! YOU DID THIS!**"

She ran at him in a blind fury, lashing out. He deflected her weak blows, easily avoiding her strikes.

"**WHY? WHY DID YOU DO IT? WAS IT WORTH HER **_**LIFE**_**?**" she screamed at him.

"Yes."

Tayuya halted in her tracks, stunned by his calm response.

Then she became even more furious. But she didn't move to attack, her anger flipped from blazing inferno to sub-zero crystal lucidity.

"_What_!? What could possibly be _that fucking important_? What the fuck could possibly be worth _her life_!?" she demanded.

"Universal peace." he replied. She looked at his face, searching for any hint of falsehood. His blank expression hadn't changed.

He was completely serious.

"I will bear the pains and sorrows of the world as God, in order to bring peace."

"You are _insane_." Tayuya concluded, wiping tears from her cheeks.

"I am Pain. I am God." he said, as if it explained everything.

"Yeah, and I'm Tayuya fucking Uzumaki." she countered. For the first time, the man's face changed, flickering to surprise . "What? You didn't know that? You managed to track us across the entire goddamn continent but you couldn't even bother to find out our fucking names?"

He frowned. "I am truly sorry. I will bear your pain and hatred for the rest of my life, in order to bring about my vision of peace." The man reached into his cloak and drew out a small scroll, tossing it to her. "A gift."

She didn't catch it, and it clattered loudly against the ground, the sound echoing off of the walls. He didn't react.

"Farewell, Tayuya Uzumaki. I can only hope our paths do not cross again."

NO! She was **NOT** going to let him leave!

She ran towards him again, to grab him, but he disappeared in a puff of white smoke. **SHIT!**

She turned around, and grabbed the scroll off of the ground, hoping it would hold something. Some clue. _Anything._

She unrolled it. It was a blank sealing scroll.

What kind of fucking 'gift' was a seali-

Oh.

_Oh._

She looked up towards the body of _her_ green-haired girl.

Whom she had become friends with.

Whom she had grown attached to.

Whom she had thought of as a companion.

Whom she had come to love as something more.

And who had reciprocated her feelings the entire time.

Without anyone or anything to direct it towards, her anger imploded, extinguishing itself and leaving only feelings of sadness and despair in its wake.

Tayuya collapsed to the floor of the cavern, and cried for the loss of the girl she loved.

* * *

·

·

·

·

·

·

Beyond the edge of the void, a voice rang like a crystal bell.

_Take heart, my child._

_For you are the only One…_

* * *

**End of Part One: Life**

* * *

**A/N:**

There's a reason the tags in the summary are [Tayuya, Fu] not Tayuya, Fu. And a reason this is 'Adventure/Romance' not 'Adventure/Tragedy'. Like, a really, really obvious reason. I'm too much of a sucker for (relatively) happy endings to end things like this.

Kabuto makes her a zombie in the manga anyways. (-_-;)

This was incredibly hard for me to write. Even worse than writing Chapter 8 (Shu's chapter) was. I get very emotionally invested in these characters, having to be inside their heads so much.

On a slightly tangential note, this is one of only five stories on here that have both Tayuya and Fu in the tags and the _only_ story that has them in a real pairing, which I find pretty funny. But it makes sense, considering how unconventional it is having these two together without any sign of Naruto. Harem fics, guys. /shakes head. So unrealistic, and yet so oddly appealing.

_Anyways_

Oh, Konan. You are going to be so much fun later on.

Pain is so OP it isn't even funny.

Please review. Tell me your thoughts. What you like so far, what you dislike…. yeah. I consider all feedback important, and read _every single_ review I get. And if you ask questions or say thoughtful stuff, I do respond. Like, with actual answers. Long ones.

So yeah. End of Part One.

Tell me what you think.


	15. Interlude: Tempest

**Chapter 15 (Interlude):**  
**Tempest**

The first thing I felt was shock. Numbness.

I couldn't believe it.

I did. But I didn't.

I knew. But I didn't.

It was completely contradictory.

I had watched as the life slipped away from her. Had _felt_ it. So there was no escaping the reality of it all. But I still couldn't believe that she was gone.

That she was dead.

The best way to describe it was that it felt like someone had torn my heart and lungs out, leaving me with nothing but an empty chest cavity.

I just felt… hollow.

* * *

I was lost when I left that cave. Both literally and figuratively. I didn't know where I was. I didn't know what to do. The reason I had been moving forward, the person I had been walking beside, was gone.

So I did the first thing that came to mind, latching onto it in like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood, for the sake of my sanity in an otherwise insane world.

I moved forward without a reason.

I wasn't running away. But I also wasn't running _towards_ anything.

I don't really have anything to run to.

I considered going to Shin and Yomi, or Takumi. But I didn't want to be around other people. I wanted to be alone. And I didn't know if my apparent curse would strike again, taking the life of another person around me.

So, I walked.

I intended to go to an inn or a town, or something. I don't know. But after sleeping outside for two nights in a row, I decided that the solitude was better.

In retrospect, it wasn't. I should have gone to someone else. Should have talked to someone sympathetic who would have said that everything would be okay. Being alone just made it worse.

The hardest thing for me was that I kept thinking about her. All the time. I couldn't stop even if I tried. Just _looking_ at something would remind me of her. Green leaves made me think of her hair. Things like that.

There would be times where I'd turn to say something I'd just thought of, only to remember she wasn't at my side.

That hurt the worst.

I didn't eat or drink much. I wasn't suicidal. It was more… I didn't feel like it was worth it.

And that was how I learned just what I am.

What I had become.

I only really realized it after the third or so week (I lost track around then). I was in Wind, having traveled west far enough to reach the giant-ass desert that made up the country. I was standing on the top of a large dune, when I noticed that the sun wasn't making me sweat. I could still feel warm or cool. But I could also ignore it. Completely.

That discovery was… unnerving.

So I tried other things. I didn't sleep for the next week. But by the end of it I felt no different than at the start.

Then I tried to _make_ myself tired, walking and running nonstop. I must have traveled hundreds of miles, maybe even thousands. It did nothing.

When I had died under those enormous fucking trees and woke up, I foolishly assumed that I had come back to life.

Clearly, I was wrong. Very, very, wrong.

People require food, water, and sleep. Bare necessities. Simple requirements. They get tired after moving for too long when they aren't accustomed to it. They feel extreme differences in temperature, and physical pain so that they are aware they're in danger.

And they need to _breath_.

That was the funniest one, actually. Finding that out. I was somewhere in the north, I think. It might have even been Waterfall or Rice.

I walked off of a cliff, right into the ocean. I know, stupid, right? But by then my focus wavered in and out as I went around, and I didn't always pay attention to where I was.

I was underneath the water's surface, holding my breath. The tube on my back was pulling me back up. But the tell-tale burning thing that your lungs do when you need more oxygen never happened. It just… didn't. So I lay there, curious, face down in the salty water for some indeterminable amount of time before I decided enough was enough, and got my ass out of the ocean (which involved some swimming, but thankfully not too far).

It was pretty fucking obvious at that point that I was no longer human.

I was just a corpse who didn't recognize when she had died. A corpse who (somehow) had a still-beating heart.

I had become a cursed existence.

I had thought I was human, and had believed it so strongly, that I had experienced what I expected. Just simple self-suggestion.

It would be impossible to call this 'life'. Life is what you experience before you die.

_But I can't_.

* * *

Everyone. _Everyone._ I have ever gotten close to, has died. My mother, at age five. My father, at age seven. My caretaker, at age eight. Shintaro, at age nine. And then I stayed away from people. But it still caught up to me, eventually. The Sound Four and Kimimaro. Dead.

And now.

_Her._

I knew her for less than three months. And yet, it still feels like an entire lifetime. A change. A new chance, for the girl known as Tayuya.

But it was a lie. A delusion.

I was happy. Do you know how _rare_ that is? I can't even remember the last time I'd been happy. My time with Orochimaru (may the cunt burn in Yomi) was overshadowed by his intimidation and menace. The others were a bit… two-dimensional. Entertaining and amusing, but I had them figured out in a month or two. I can't develop very strong feelings when I _know_ how someone is going to act.

But she had been so complex. So layered. Only opening up one at a time. I was fascinated, and couldn't ever predict how she would react. It was thrilling.

I loved every second of it.

And now it was gone. _She_ was gone.

Only one question keeps repeating in my mind, over and over and over and over, even now.

_Why?_

* * *

Sometimes now I stop and sit, even though I don't really _need_ to. It's just a change of pace in the monotony that my existence has become. I just watch everything, sitting for days, the sun and the moon moving like a time-lapse over my head. And despite my complete depression, I still think it's beautiful.

Lightning has become my favorite.

All of the other countries are boring and static. Fire is trees. Wind is sand. Earth is rock. Iron is ice. But Lightning? Lightning has storms. Typhoons.

The storms that these mountains experience are like no other. Cataclysmic. They appear out of nowhere, and then the winds rage, uprooting trees and tossing them like twigs. Water falls in sheets, being blown almost horizontally.

The purple-white bolts of lightning light up the sky only momentarily, arcing between sky and earth, like some kind of bridge to the heavens. It's followed quickly by the thunder, shaking everything around it, and you can feel it, right down to your bones, the vibrations such a low frequency that it feels like they could tear you apart.

They can last for days, the wind and rain battering anything and everything.

These storms make me feel alive.

I think that's why I like them so much.

They make my heart pound, when nothing else can anymore.

I only wish she could be here with me to experience it.

* * *

_You can't avoid it forever, child._

_Time continues forward, even if you do not._


	16. Found

**Disclaimer:**

Did Kishimoto ever make religious references _outside_ of techniques and ninja stuff? If not, I don't own _Naruto_, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Part Two: Death**

* * *

**Chapter 16:**  
**Found**

Tayuya snapped out of another period of self-imposed sensory deprived wandering feeling like she had just gotten kicked in the back of the head. She stood still, looking at a set of stone steps. Rough-hewn, light-colored stone steps weathered by years of rainfall. Blocks, set together in patterns, leading up…

Leading up to a monastery.

Well. That was something she hadn't come across yet.

She was already half-way up the steps, and decided to keep climbing them if only finish what she had started. The bases of the statues up there looked perfect for just sitting down and watching the sky.

Writing above the large bronze doors that sat at the top declared that the monastery was the Fire Temple. The statues were of _tengu_, and stood on either side of the entrance, creating a traditional image that she expected from such a place.

She chose the right one and aimed for it.

The walls of temple were red, and blue shingles covered the roof. It was built in a very traditional style, with single-beam roofs that curved down and out.

She reached the intimidating statue, and sat down on the large stone that it was built on, looking around at the scenery.

The trees surrounding the temple were gigantic, reaching high into the sky, which made sense considering this was Fire Country. No other country had trees with trunks twelve feet wide.

The sky was a beautiful azure, with only scattered clouds that hung like balls of cotton. The sun beat down on her skin, warming it slightly. A cool breeze blew through the leaves, rustling them quietly, altering the hues and shades of the foliage.

Tayuya looked down at her hands.

She was fairly clean. She didn't remember walking through rain, but she must have done it fairly recently, since there was only minuscule layer of dirt on them.

She had been in Wind Country for the last two weeks. At least she thought so. And she would have come out covered in mud and sand. But she wasn't right now, so it must have rained between there and here. But it couldn't have been a full-fledged storm, or she would have noticed it.

Her thoughts slowed down as she stared out at the expansive landscape in front of her.

She sat there for a while.

She didn't know how long.

But she was brought out of her daze by the sound of footsteps on the stone below her.

The sun had moved across the sky, from her left to her right. So it had been only half a day. Or… maybe it had been a few days.

Not that it really mattered either way.

Tayuya looked down at the source of the noise. A bald man with white robes and blue sash calmly walked up the stairs, his sandals tapping on the stone. A red cloth around his waist held the character for 'fire' written on it, and he carried something over his shoulder.

He only noticed her as he reached the top of the steps, and his eyes widened slightly when they settled on her before returning to their previous size. She was curious about his reaction. It was probably odd to see a girl sitting on a statue pedestal in front of a temple, but she didn't think it was something that warranted _shock_.

He walked over to her cautiously, and her curiosity grew even more.

"Why is one such as you sitting outside our temple?" he asked. One such as herself? What the hell did he mean? She hadn't even said anything to him. All he had done was look at her.

"What are you talking about?" Her voice was raspy and dry, scraping together like a rusted hinge from disuse in however long it had been. Longer than three months, at least.

"You are more than welcome inside." he said. "Were you not offered entrance?"

She shook her head. "I didn't try."

"I see." he stated, becoming more relaxed. "Would you like to enter?"

A choice. She could say no, and just leave, going back to her idle wandering.

Or.

She could say yes, and try to find out what made him react like that to seeing her, and why he was treating her like this.

Decisions.

Her curiosity won out, and she nodded to him in response.

_It's not like I've got anything better to do._

"Then, please, come with me." he said calmly, offering her a hand to help her off of the pedestal. She took it, hopped down silently, and then released his hand.

He walked towards the large doors, leading her.

"My name is Chiriku. I am the head monk of this _nindera_, this ninja temple. My duty is mostly overseeing the other laity's protection, as I was trained in the ninja arts, and served as one of the guards of the Fire Daimyo."

Why was he telling her all of this?

"Tayuya. Uzumaki." she rasped in response. "Why are you letting me in?" Weren't monasteries supposed to be closed to outsiders?

He halted in front of the large carved doors, turning to look at her.

"Are you not aware of your condition?" Her condition? Her apparent immortality and inability to die in any way?

Her voice was slowly beginning to clear. "I have a curse on me."

His eyebrows rose. "So you are unaware." He became contemplative.

"Unaware of what?"

"It is not my place to say." He paused. "However, it seems my guidance is needed in some capacity. There are no coincidences. The fact that you were on the steps of the Fire Temple, and I am the one who met you indicates you were brought here for a reason." he responded.

What? "Look, I can just go and get out of your, uh" she was going to say hair, but he didn't have any. "I won't bother you."

"No. It is no bother." Chiriku denied. "You were led here, and it is my duty to see that fulfilled in some way."

He pushed open the gigantic metal doors as if they weighed nothing.

"We do not usually host guests, particularly females, but we will be able to accommodate you. We have a few guest quarters that should be able to host you."

The doors opened to a large dirt courtyard. Tayuya looked around, slightly awed. Monks walked everywhere. Men from all ages, young to old, all with shaved heads and similar garb to Chiriku.

A few saw her, and their reaction ranged from a slight widening of the eyes like Chiriku had expressed, to nearly tripping over their own feet in astonishment.

"Is it because I'm a girl?" she asked. She knew basically nothing about monks, other than the whole 'abstain from all things pleasurable in order to focus on obtaining enlightenment'.

Chiriku smiled slightly. "No. Well, perhaps for the younger ones. It is because of what they see of you."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" she asked, a little annoyed at the cloak-and-dagger responses.

"It is not-"

"Your place to say. Got it." she grumbled in frustration. He smiled wider.

"You are learning already." His voiced carried a hint of mirth.

She wanted some straight answers. "What the hell _can_ you tell me?"

He began walking to the left, leading them to a series of small buildings.

"You are suffering. And I am to help you move beyond it."

"And how the _fuck_ do you know what I'm feeling?" she asked, irritated. He smiled again.

"It is not important right now. We will discuss the intricacies of such topics later." He stopped walking. "These are the guest rooms." he said, motioning to building at the edge of the temple's wall. It was built in a traditional style, made completely of wood with simple white sides and dark shingles. A single door was on the right.

"They have not been used in some time, and we were not prepared to host you, so please forgive me if they are not to your standards. A washroom is available inside. I need to see how the monastery has fared in my absence, and will be unavailable until tomorrow morning as part of my duties and meditation."

Great. She had hoped this was going to be a quick in-and-out sort of deal. And those huge doors with what she assumed was a giant barrier around this whole place prevented her from just overloading it and leaving, unless she wanted to alert everyone within fifty miles.

She didn't.

"Dinner will be brought to you tonight. Is that satisfactory?" he asked.

"Uh, sure." She hadn't eaten in three or four months. If it was anything like when she had started talking, this might end up being _really_ uncomfortable.

"I will leave you to your business then." he said. "I will come visit you following my morning meal." And then he walked away, leaving her standing there in a daze.

She had a strange feeling of déjà vu, and it hit her that this situation was basically the same as what had happened with Shin and Yomi. Whisked into an unfamiliar place by relative strangers after major upsets, and then left to her own devices.

Tayuya sighed. There was nothing she could do about it now. She walked along the narrow stone pathway to the building and opened the door. It was simple, which was what she expected for a monastery. There was a basic genkan, and a single hallway that extended forward and to the left.

Her feet were bare, so she didn't need to remove her shoes. They had been the first things to be worn down, and had fallen off somewhere between Hot Water and Lightning the first time she had traveled over that border. It wasn't like she _needed_ shoes. If she ever cut her foot, it just healed. Anything that got lodged under her skin, like splinters, were forced out just as fast. So sandals had become a moot point.

She walked forward to the end of the short hallway and followed it left. There were four sets of sliding doors, covered in shoji. She opened the first one. It was a simple four and a half tatami-mat room, the inside painted a plain white with wood edging standing out in relief. A bare light bulb was at the center of the ceiling. She supposed she should be thankful that the building even had electricity. A thin futon sat in the back corner.

Well, it wasn't like she could complain. She hadn't even laid down, much less _slept_ for an extremely long time. She could at least clean up, though. That would feel nice. She slid the door closed, and walked the rest of the way down the hall.

The last door was more modern, and she twisted the handle to open it. It revealed a small white room with a sink, a mirror, a toilet, and a simple shower. It was better than having to ladle water over herself at a riverside, like she was sure the monks had to do.

She loosened the straps on the red tube that sat on her back, and pulled each one over her head, undoing the cross they formed over her chest. The straps resisted pulling away from her, and when she finally managed to get them off, she noticed that the color of her shirt was now a light pink instead of red, and that the original color had only remained under the straps of the scroll-holder. She placed the tube reverently next to the sink, making sure it wouldn't fall over. She'd wash it off and clean it after she finished with herself.

Then came her bracelet. She unclasped it, slipping it off her wrist, pulling it over the ever-present swirling storage seal, and rinsed it in the sink, making sure to get most of the dirt off.

After that, her clothes. She tried to unzip her shirt, but the pull kept getting stuck, so she gave up and tore it apart with her hands, the originally durable material now flimsy and threadbare. She threw it to the floor, fully intending on disposing of all the clothes she was currently wearing.

Her pants were next, and they disappeared easily, the nylon that had held them together cracking and disintegrating under her fingers. They had only stayed on by being stuck to her skin, unable to move. Her underwear was much the same.

Her breast wraps were the last, and hardest. She ended up needing to use her teeth on the piece that was closest to her mouth, and then was able to unwind them normally. She turned to the right, and looked at herself in the mirror.

There were two facts that she had learned that told her more about the curse she suffered from.

One: she hadn't gotten her period since she had died. The first few months, she had just written it off as her body being upset with having been exposed to fatal damage and trauma. But she never even got it on her long-ass journey across the entire goddamn continent. She would have noticed if she had, despite being out of it every so often.

Two: her hair hadn't grown. It was stuck, the same way it had been. She wondered what would happen if she cut it off. Would it grow back to its current length? Or would it just stay cut eternally?

These two things pointed to one conclusion.

Her curse froze her body in time. Ageless. Timeless. Immortal.

She glared at the entangled seal on her chest. She didn't know for sure if it was involved or not. But it had all started after she had died (for the second time). And the seal had appeared then as well.

What had that man, Chiriku, said? 'There are no coincidences'?

She put those thoughts aside, and climbed into the tiny stand-up shower, turning on the water. She didn't care about temperature. If she didn't focus on it, she could entirely cut off the sensation, just like every other feeling in her body.

The water that flowed into the drain took on a distinctly brownish tint.

…Maybe she had been dirtier than she had thought.

She drew her fingertips through her hair, removing the knots and breaking up the residual dirt that clumped together. It took time and more repetitions than she could count before she couldn't find any more. Taking the block of soap that sat on the small built-in ledge on the right, she began truly washing herself off, starting with her legs and working up.

Once she finished the first one, she switched. The grime that was on her skin was difficult to remove, and she was glad that the soap was rather rough, as it acted similar to sandpaper, shaving down and disintegrating all of the layers. She moved to her abdomen, and then her chest and neck, and then each of her arms before focusing on her back and finishing her body.

There was no shampoo, so she created a wad of suds in one of her hands and assaulted her hair, working it into all of the fibers and then rinsing. She repeated the process three times before she was finally satisfied, able to run her hands through it without trouble.

She didn't know how long she had been in there. Her sense of measuring time was completely broken.

She shut off the shower head and leaned forward against the tile that made up the walls, breathing in slowly.

She didn't _need_ to breath anymore, as that time in the ocean had taught her, but it was still instinctual and she did it out of habit, just as she held her breath underwater out of habit. She had never actually tried breathing water in. That could create some interesting results. Not that she was motivated to try.

She opened the shower door and stepped out, standing on the mat dripping water. The muddy red tube caught her eye.

Right.

Grabbing the tube, she went back into the shower, closing the door and turning the water back on. She grabbed the soap and attacked the tough silicone-rubber exterior, scrubbing away the dirt. It was actually two layered, a thick insulating rubbery coating on the outside, and a titanium-aluminum alloy on the inside as the actual tube. She only knew that because it was engraved on the inside of the cap. But it was still pretty cool. And really freaking durable.

Her thoughts painfully went to the green-haired girl who had professed her adamant love for the object. Tayuya stopped and just stood there, stuck in her memories until the tube slipped from her grasp and hit the floor of the shower with a muted 'thud', breaking her out of the spiraling depressive thoughts.

She picked it back up and got back to cleaning it.

The straps weren't described as being made of anything special, but they had to be a kind of super-cotton considering how soft and thin yet strong they were. It was a good thing too, otherwise the entire thing would have fallen off her shoulders. She would have immediately noticed though, with how important it was to her and the ever-present niggling pressure in her mind that her swords still gave her. But it would have made it hard to carry, and she would have had to go to a town to get the harness replaced.

Tayuya finished scouring the straps (especially the sides that had been facing outwards), rinsed of the entire thing one last time, and then shut off the water. She wrung them out as much as she could, and stepped out of the shower again, putting the tube back where it had sat.

Dripping water onto the mat at her feet, she grabbed the rather thin towel that hung from a rod on the side of the sink, drying her hair out until she was happy and then drying the rest of her body, putting the towel back in its place to dry out now that it was practically soaked through and dripping.

Clothes.

The bathroom was too small for her to actually unroll the large scroll that held her bag, which in turn held her things.

She really hadn't thought this through.

Oh well. She didn't give a shit, and nobody else was in the building. And she did _not_ want to get water all over the tatami mats with that towel.

Tayuya strapped her bracelet on, picked up the various articles of her dirt-crusted old clothing that were in a pile by the door, and swung the damp straps of the tube over her shoulder. Exiting the bathroom, she walked down the hallway to the bedroom she had decided to use, and entered it, closing the shoji door behind her and flicking on the ceiling light.

Moving to the center of the room, she unscrewed the cap of the tube and pulled the scroll out, rolling it across the floor. Her bag was sealed near the middle, meaning the scroll had to be opened about eight feet before she could access it.

Her eyes got stuck on the spot below it, but she tore her eyes away before she got sucked back down beneath the surface of her depression.

Unsealing the bag, she rolled the scroll up and slid it back in its place, but decided to leave the tube uncapped, putting it at the edge of the room by the futon, and sitting down cross-legged on the flat mattress.

She looked at her bag, and remembered that it had been Shin who gave it to her. She winced. They had probably been pretty worried about her. And she had never even sent a letter to her grandfather. She should do that, now that she was actually thinking about things like that.

But clothing was the priority right now.

Tayuya dug through her bag, trying to find the blue scroll marked 'Clothes'. It was at the bottom. She was reminded after unrolling it that she didn't have much in the way of shinobi-wear, as most of the things she had bought in Taki and gotten from Yomi were civilian.

And the monks probably wouldn't appreciate some of the less conservative clothes she had.

She unsealed a pair of black, utilitarian underwear along with a new strip of the stretchy, soft material she used to wrap her chest, and put them on before contemplating the rest of what she should wear.

Wait. She wasn't even going outside tonight, right? So she could choose whatever she wanted for now.

Slightly pleased by that turn of events, she turned back to the small scroll, got out a pair of knee-length shorts and a loose t-shirt, and put them on. Rolling the scroll of sealed clothing back up, she threw it into her bag and lay back on the futon, staring at the plain white ceiling.

Her eyes unfocused and she drifted into the feeling of emptiness and longing pain that she was now so accustomed to. It still hurt. It hurt so much. So many months later and it still felt like it had been yesterday. The pain was unbearable. Tayuya's eyes began to water.

Why did it hurt this much?

She had been a friend, yes, and you had fallen in love with her, yes. But did she really mean _that_ much to you?

_Yes_ she thought in response to her own question. _She did._

But it was still a little concerning to her that she was fixating so much. Unable to get past her grief.

The depth of emotion reminded her of the blind devotion she had felt towards Orochimaru.

Was that what had happened? Had she just shifted from being hopelessly infatuated with one person to another?

_No._

It had never been like that. She had admired the girl, sure. Especially for the trials and events she had to endure. But she hadn't been _single-minded_ in her interest of her.

Had she?

_No._

Tayuya had had a stable job. She had talked to Shin and Yomi regularly through letters. She had been adjusting well to living out from under Orochimaru's constant presence.

So had the obsession not been there at all? Or had it simply been less apparent, and slightly more balanced.

She felt like it was probably the latter.

But it was also due to the situation and the other girl. It hadn't been just her. Fu had _needed_ someone who would be like that for her. And Tayuya had reluctantly accepted that role, but tried to fill it as best she could. And in the process, it had become not uncomfortable or unwanted, but natural and pleasant, and then enjoyable and desired.

This was getting her nowhere.

She had become friends, grown attached, and fallen in love with Fu.

She had promised to stand by her unconditionally, which had caused a natural fixation on the girl in order to maintain that promise.

Fu had died.

And Tayuya still couldn't get over her, four or so months later.

It was only now, after talking to Chiriku and being treated like a human being again, that she was feeling everything again. It felt like the wound had been re-opened even worse now. At least before the mindless monotony had dulled her and allowed her some form of mental anesthesia. But now that was gone.

Tayuya rolled over on the futon and looked at the red tube.

She didn't want to think about it any more, so she closed her eyes.

* * *

She didn't know how much time had passed when the knock on the sliding door sounded.

She hadn't fallen asleep. She had just withdrawn into herself, trying to stop feeling the sharp aching sensation that pervaded her chest.

This is what made her a truly cursed existence. The gift of immortality, able to heal any and all possible injury. Except the one that hurt the most. It was absolutely ironic. Not.

She rolled off of the futon to her feet, and walked sedately across the tatami floor to the door, sliding it open. There was no one there.

"Will this dinner be acceptable, Uzumaki-sama?" a voice asked from the floor.

She looked down, a bald head filling her vision. The monk sat in seiza, a wooden tray of food in front of him. Tayuya quickly backed up.

_-sama?_ What was going on here?

The tray held a well-cooked piece of fish, vegetables, rice, miso soup, and… was that a bowl of nikujaga?

Her mouth watered.

"Aren't monks vegetarian?" she wondered out loud.

"Yes, we traditionally abstain from meat. However, this was prepared for you." Whoa. That was some serious hospitality. "Is it not acceptable?"

"N-No! No! That's not it. You didn't have do anything special for me. I wouldn't mind eating your food." This was her first meal in forever, after all. Plain rice probably would have been best. Despite how tantalizing it smelled.

"You humble us with your kind words. But we are more than happy to do this for you." the monk replied in an even voice.

"Uh, well, thank you very much then." She bowed in gratitude.

"I will take my leave." he said, standing up and returning her bow down to his waist, before walking away towards the entrance of the building.

She stood in the room, dumbfounded.

What the _fuck_ was up with these people?

* * *

The food was delicious.

After however many days of not eating, she had expected the process to be weird and uncomfortable.

She was really glad she was wrong.

The fish was light, grilled _just_ enough so that it melted in her mouth, but didn't fall apart when it was picked up. The saltiness complemented the rice perfectly.

The tofu in the miso soup was firm, and the soup itself reminded Tayuya of Yomi, who had been experimenting to find the exact ratio of paste to dashi.

There were so many flavors in the stew. Potatoes. Onions. Carrots. Beef. The sweetness of sugar. The distinctive taste of soy sauce.

It was gone before she knew it.

She piled the empty dishes on the plate, and put them outside her door, which is what she assumed they wanted her to do, considering they had delivered the meal to her room.

Closing the door, she turned the overhead light off, shucking her shorts as she crossed the room back to the futon. Pulling the blanket back, she laid down, staring at the ceiling once again.

But this time, she didn't let her thoughts go to the source of her misery. This time, she shut her eyes, and forced herself to embrace the welcoming darkness that now lurked ceaselessly in the back of her mind, falling into it, and into sleep's embrace.

* * *

She did not dream. She was at least afforded that kindness.

If she had, she knew what would have been in it.

The genjutsu.

Fu's death at Tayuya's hands.

Her face, twisted in sadness and misery and betrayal.

She was glad she didn't dream.

* * *

The sun hadn't yet risen when she woke, so she just sat on the futon, avoiding thinking at all, so that her thoughts didn't inevitably wander back to _her_.

She could hear a faint thrum of voices, and assumed that the monks were starting the day with ritualistic chanting or something. She had really limited knowledge on these things.

After the sun finally rose, she decided it was time to get up, and got out the scroll of clothes again to pick out a different top, settling on short-sleeve lavender shirt that was wrapped to either side of her like a kimono, a thick edge of bright purple trailing from her neck to her lower right. Casual, yet considerate at the same time.

The white shorts she had worn for only one or two hours yesterday would work. Hanging just to above her knees, they were obviously civilian in design, being loose in the legs (compared to what she was used to) and having a number of pockets.

Tayuya sealed everything up, put the scroll in the tube, and placed it next to the futon. And then she sat back down, and waited.

A knock eventually came from the shoji door. Instead of going over to it and opening it like she had yesterday, she simply called out "Yes?".

The door was slid open only about a foot and a half, and another monk sat outside. Unlike yesterday, the meal was simply rice, miso, and pickled vegetables, which was more like what she expected from a temple.

The monk wordlessly slid the tray into her room, and began to close the paper door.

"U-um, thank you for being so generous in your hospitality." she said a little stiffly. She wasn't used to being formal. Or considerate. Or thankful. It went against her character. But she was also thrown extremely off-kilter by these weird people… Just like with Shin and Yomi. Ugh. The parallels were creepy.

"It is our pleasure, Uzumaki-sama" the monk said in a warm tone, before closing the door and padding away.

There was the '-sama' again. Why did they treat her like she held a higher position than them? Was it just part of their teachings, or what? She'd have to ask Chiriku.

She busied herself with eating, and while it wasn't the amazing dinner she had had last night, it was filling.

Chiriku appeared barely after she finished eating, knocking on the door and entering after she opened it.

"Good morning." he greeted.

"Uh, hey." she responded, trying to think of something appropriate to say.

She had nothing.

"Will you walk with me?" he asked, motioning to the door.

She nodded, and got up from her cross-legged position, fetching the scroll-tube and strapping it on. It was too important to leave here alone. She just wasn't comfortable without it.

"Uh, are my clothes okay? I thought we were going to do this in here, and didn't really plan on walking around in a temple like this." She had a plain kimono and hakama from Yomi, which would really be more appropriate if they were going to be walking around the monks, all things considered.

"The way you are is fine. We will only be traveling to the garden." he moved back out of the shoji door, and she followed him down the hall and out the door of the small building, walking along the stone path ways. Instead of heading back to the large courtyard that was just behind the entrance, they walked along the left wall of the temple, following it further in.

"Oh, yeah. What the hell's up with everyone being so polite? And as much as I appreciate it, you don't have to go out of your way to cook meals for me." she said.

"We are only being respectful. It is not too unusual, is it?" he asked. She got the feeling he had just intentionally dodged her question, and if she asked 'Why?' she'd only get 'It is not my place to say' in response. It was intensely frustrating feeling like everyone around you knew something you didn't.

They came to a small grove, with a stream running through it, and lush grass all around. Rocks sat at various positions around the area. Chiriku stopped walking in front of a pair of flat stones that were only three feet apart.

"We can talk here." he sat onto the stone closest to him, and shifted into a cross-legged position.

She moved over to the other rock, and repeated his actions.

They sat there for a few minutes, and Tayuya had to force herself not to fidget. She still wasn't used to being around people again. Finally, he turned to her.

"You are on a journey. I cannot reveal what that journey is, as I do not fully know. It is for you to discover. But I am to assist you in this small part." he told her. "There is not much time, for either of us, thus I will forgo the usual teaching method of having you meditate on the concepts and come to your own conclusions, so forgive me for that." He smiled. "However, I feel that this is better suited to you anyways."

She nodded silently.

"What do you know of what is done in a temple?" he asked, gesturing around him.

"Uh, you guys are trying to… reach enlightenment right?" she responded, unsure of her answer.

"Yes. To achieve nirvana. However, that is only the goal. The path to getting there is just as important. Achieving true nirvana is not a task to be accomplished in one life, but in many." he explained.

"Many lives? Like… reincarnation?"

Chiriku nodded. "True nirvana is only achieved by escaping the cycle of rebirth, freeing oneself from suffering. Nirvana in one life can only be described as being truly peaceful, free from all negative mental states and influences." He eyed her pointedly, making her shift under his gaze.

"Yesterday, I told you that you were suffering. The path to reaching nirvana, requires release from all suffering, known as _dukkha_. To this end, we follow the eight-fold path, learning to separate ourselves from suffering and achieve self-awakening."

That… sounded like a little much. She wasn't trying to become a monk or anything. Chiriku seemed to pick up her thoughts.

"I do not expect you to achieve such a thing, nor even follow our teachings. But you are still suffering. Greatly. Which is a topic that we are intimately familiar with. And the first step to be free of your pain is recognition."

Okay. That was fair. But still.

Recognition.

Fixing a problem, _any_ problem, required you to first know there _was_ a problem. And as much as she was loathe to admit it, the place she was in was not a good place. And the way she was/had been living was not healthy, by any definition. Thus, she had a problem. A big one. But she also didn't know if she even _wanted_ to fix it.

"Dukkha is most easily explained in three forms. Suffering from the cycle of life: birth, age, illness, and death. Suffering from impermanence: attempting to hold on to what you desire. And the most subtle, suffering from conditioned existence: inherent dissatisfaction with all things, because all things are changing."

"… And that's all me, isn't it?" she asked him softly. He looked at her curiously.

"I don't know how any of this relates to you, I am only explaining because I was aware that you were suffering in some way." he stated. "But if you see a connection, perhaps it is important."

"…" Tayuya looked at him wordlessly, and drew her knees up. She didn't want to talk about this. But did she really want to keep going on the way she had been? It wasn't like she cared, either way. She'd still be here. Forever. Eternally.

Maybe if she thought about him as an impartial outsider, like a counselor, it would be easier. He basically was, after all, being the head of a religious order.

"I-." Her mind went fuzzy and she lost her words. Gods this was hard to say.

She tried again. "I-I lost someone. Someone very important to me. I made them a promise, and because I couldn't keep it, they died." she took a shaky breath. "I only knew her for two months. But she became the most important person in my life, and I realized that I had fallen in love with her just before she died. And she only died because I didn't stop it from happening."

It was stumbling out, flowing like an unstoppable river now. "It's been…." She didn't actually know what month it was. "What month is it?"

"We are in the second week in October." he answered.

Fuck. "Eight months." She had been out of touch with reality for eight months. That sounded pathetic. It _was_ pathetic. "I just… walked. I didn't do anything. I mean, sometimes I watched storms or the sky, but mostly I just did nothing." she said softly. "Not being able to die is a curse."

"Ah, so you _are_ aware of the state of your soul. Based on your statement yesterday, I assumed when you said 'curse' you were referring to the mark on your chest. But, that 'curse' is also a blessing, is it not? It is why you are so respected within these walls. You have been given both the best and the worst fortune. You are forever removed from the cycle rebirth, but remain an existence where you must endure and rise above the suffering you experience."

"H-How do you know that!?"

"The symbol, it glows very brightly to us. Even through your clothing. I assume it doesn't for you?" he asked, pointing to his chest where it was on her. She nodded slowly. "Due to our practices and meditation, we are gifted with a special form of chakra, which is golden in color, the same color as its light. Perhaps that is why we can see it."

Tayuya was confused. "But… how does that tell you anything?" Even if they _could_ see her seal, how did that tell them she couldn't die?

"That shape is very auspicious. It is a _takaramusubi_, an endless knot. It symbolizes love, the omnipresence of our ancestors, the combination of wisdom and compassion, the cycle of samsara, harmony, intrinsic duality, and that all things are intimately connected." he explained. "It reminds us of what we work to understand in attempting to achieve enlightenment."

This was the first she had even heard about it. She'd tried looking up its design before, since seal designs reflected their purpose. For example, containment seals were usually circular (and always an enclosing shape), the super-seal her father had designed had been spiraling conduits for extracting, filtering, and channeling energy, and Fu's seal had points that let Chomei's chakra escape into her network. But Tayuya hadn't been able to find _anything_ about knot-shaped seals in the one book she had been able to read in the civilian section of the Taki library.

She had been looking in the wrong places. And now, she had literally stumbled right into one place that _did_ know what it was.

"What does that have to do with me?" she asked.

He shrugged, the casual motion looking very odd when done by him. "I don't know. That you have it in such a way makes you holy in our eyes. But all that we can see is that your soul has been removed from the cycle, and that your mark is a reflection of that. Not how or why. But because you have become truly permanent in an ephemeral world, you _must_ learn to let go of the past."

She was silent, and then looked away from him. "But what if I don't want to?"

"Why not?" he asked

Wasn't it obvious?

"How can I? How could I ever just… let go of her? Forget her? I want her back so badly that every time I think of her, it hurts worse than anything." Which was quite a lot. Using a curse seal was extremely painful. But that had been physical. This was different.

And she _could not_ forget her. Ever. She knew that in the deepest depths of her heart, her soul.

"You misunderstand me." His voice drew her back, and she looked at him. He took a moment, trying to think how to phrase it best. "Learning to let go of your past is not the same as forgetting it, of letting go of your experiences. Instead, it is acknowledging our inability to change that which cannot be changed, and accepting the things that have happened, both bad and good, while continuously moving forward towards the things we can do in the future.

"We would not be the people we are if we had no experiences. In the same way, forgetting about the past is not the solution. There is no way to move forward if we do, because there is nothing to move forward from. 'Letting go' is decreasing its influence on your emotional state, its hold over you, so that you can experience new things clearly and without regret. It is not forgetting or denying its presence. In fact, I would go so far as to say it is the complete opposite. It is total recognition of the past."

And then he asked her something completely unexpected.

"If you found a way to bring her back , would you?"

"Of course!" She'd do it in a heartbeat. She'd give anything. Everything. But it would have to be real. To have her be truly alive. It would be even worse if Fu was some un-life, like Orochimaru's Edō-Tensei.

He nodded. "Yes. Of course. But that doesn't mean you can't be at peace with the past."

"W-what?" That didn't make any sense. She couldn't let go of her, and simultaneously want her back.

"Accepting the past is not mutually exclusive with wanting to change the state that is derived from it." He thought for a moment. "Perhaps this would be clearer. If you had an argument, no, a fight, with someone and regret it, accepting that means that we know we made a mistake and that there is nothing you can do to change that it happened. But, would you be okay leaving things as they are, your relationship damaged and eventually falling apart? No. You would apologize, thus repairing your relationship. You are not changing the past, but instead moving forward and changing the _future_.

"In the same way, we can accept death, and still move forward to change the future, _our_ future. As you are, you will change nothing, and remain stagnant and unhappy because you are too enveloped in your pain to be able to focus on anything else."

His tone shifted abruptly. "I was one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, and worked to protect the Daimyō. During my time, six of our members conspired to overthrow the current Daimyō. We were forced to kill them, and only three of us survived. Moving past the pain of their betrayal and deaths was very challenging. The hardest obstacle I have surmounted in my journey so far. But I had to, or I would have wallowed in my sadness forever."

She looked down, unable to meet his eyes. That was what _she_ was doing right now.

What she had been doing for the last eight months, could not be considered 'living'. It was merely existing. Did she want that? Did she truly want to never move forward, to never feel pleasure or warmth or joy? She didn't know.

But then she thought about Fu. The bright, happy, green-haired girl. Was this what would she have wanted? Would _she_ have wanted to Tayuya to stop, not doing anything anymore? To forever isolate herself, refusing to interact with people? Never learning new things or meet new people? Would she have wanted her to not be happy?

_No._

Fu would have wanted her to move forward. Not to fixate on her death like Tayuya was doing, to the exclusion of not caring for herself, or torture herself over an event that fundamentally _could not_ be changed because it was in the past. Instead, she would want her to work towards a better future, where things _could_ be changed.

If Tayuya couldn't begin to move forward for herself, she could at least do it for the girl she loved, and let that be the starting point. The first step.

She looked up at Chiriku, her eyes slightly teary from the pain of thinking about Fu. "I need to do something. Outside of the walls." she said, unsure and yet resolved at the same time, a tenuous balance of contradictions.

He nodded in understanding. "I will walk with you to open the gate, and wait for your return."

They both got off of their respective large flat stones, and began walking towards the front of the monastery.

This was the right thing to do. She _needed_ to move forward from the past.

To remember, but not regret.

To let go, but not forget.

And _this_ would be that first step of many.

The trip to the gates was much less exciting than it had been yesterday, as not many of the monks were walking around right now. They reached the large bronze doors, and Chiriku pulled one open, allowing her to step through before following.

"I will wait here." he told her.

Tayuya made a small sound of recognition to his statement, and began walking down the steps.

* * *

She didn't know where she was going.

So she walked.

But not the dead, lifeless, disconnected walk like she had been after her emotions were overwhelmed because she was unable to stop thinking of Fu, but a sedate, conscious walk, allowing the trees and nature of the forest to soothe her anxiety and apprehension about what she was about to do.

It surprised her when less than five minutes away from the temple she found a cave, very reminiscent of the one that Fu and her had slept in when they had been traveling through Iron. She smiled at the memory, and the warmth they had shared, their first night sleeping together, but not their last.

It still hurt to think about her, _but that was alright_. She should be able to enjoy remembering the things they had done together, and the happiness that she experienced, even if it hurt.

This cave was set in the side of a small rock formation, with a moss and vines creeping up its sides. Forest floor gave way to stone beneath her feet.

She removed the red tube from her back, and got the scroll out, unrolling it in front of the cave. _It_ was sealed next to her bag. She unsealed the location on the scroll, and picked up the resulting much smaller cylinder with trembling hands.

She didn't know what she was going to do right now. Or how this was supposed to go.

But something was pushing her. Something in the back of her mind said this was what she needed to do.

Walking into the mouth of the cave, she unrolled the small scroll in her hands and laid it down on the stone floor. Crouching down, she touched her fingers to the paper, and channeled chakra from her fingers into it.

There was a small release of white smoke, and it was done.

She was there.

In front of her.

Just as beautiful as Tayuya remembered. As peaceful as she had been the moment she slipped away.

It hurt so much. Seeing that face. Those hands. That green hair.

It felt like having her ribcage cracked open and her heart torn out while it was still beating.

But she needed to do this.

The nagging feeling at the back of her mind grew stronger, and she followed her instincts, pulling the small scroll back, spooling the paper, and rolling it towards the larger scroll behind her without looking.

The pressure on her mind grew even more, but it was a warm, comforting pressure, like lying under a heavy comforter on a cold winter day. And she felt that the instincts she was feeling would not lead her to pain, so she followed them, as they directed her actions.

Tayuya put her hands down on the stone floor, only half a foot away from the feet of the still girl in front of her.

She didn't think. Didn't try to control it.

She let it out.

Everything she was feeling. All of it.

Down her arms, and into the stone, the earth, the forest.

Her self-hatred. Her guilt. Her doubt. Her sadness. Her agony. Her misery. Her despair. Her pain.

Her acceptance. Her satisfaction. Her resolution. Her happiness. Her joy. Her relief. Her comfort. Her pleasure.

Her Love.

The gaps between her fingers hands began collecting moisture, the rock beneath her cooling rapidly, veins that looked like fine crystal creeping away from her palms and freezing the moisture, extending outwards, towards Fu's body.

When the venous capillaries of frost reached the girl's feet, the area around her exploded, thick tendrils coiling around and embracing her tenderly. A few off-shoots spread away from her over the stone floor, growing and climbing the walls like vines.

Tayuya knew this was okay.

The patterns and tendrils kept growing, twisting and climbing until the entire cave's walls were covered, from floor to ceiling, and Fu's body was completely encased in the crystalline ropes.

It was only then that she stopped, cutting off the flow of chakra and energy that she hadn't even noticed going down her hands, and pulling them back. The thin layer of frost between her and Fu melted, leaving only the girl's body at the center of the scene. She stood up and slowly walked forward, stumbling over the inch-high ropes that sprouted and spread away from her body to the walls.

She collapsed in a heap next to the girl's head, and touched the clear coating that covered her face.

It was pure, solid ice, inches thick. And Tayuya somehow knew that it would never melt, healing using moisture in the air if it took damage. She didn't know how she had created this special ice, or how she knew these things.

But she had. And she did.

Tayuya sat for a moment, looking at the girl's face through the layers. Remembering all of the expressions it had made. It didn't hurt as much to think about it. Now there was also a sense of happiness for the things they had done, and wistfulness for the things they hadn't.

She stood up, and walked out of the cave. At the mouth, she turned around silently, bowed low to her waist, straightened out, and clapped her hands twice, saying the best prayer she could think of for a safe passage to the Pure Land. The only possible realm Fu could end up in, even if Tayuya swore to herself that she would change that.

Tayuya turned back around and noticed that the large scroll on the ground had opened almost completely, unrolling itself down a slope. She sighed.

Walking to the end that was attached to the spool, she kneeled down and was about to start pushing it forward to roll it up. But then something caught her eye.

Right underneath the bottom edge of the roller sat what looked like a filled storage point. Curious, she opened the scroll to its absolute maximum length in order to see what it was.

There _was_ something there. She'd never seen it before, because she and Fu really only used the first half of the entire scroll. Truly interested now, she unsealed the spot. A plain brown box 'poof'ed into existence. She pulled the lid off, looking inside to see what it was.

There was another box, and an envelope, both a solid white. The envelope had 'Tayuya' scrawled across it in a slightly messy hand.

Sitting down cross-legged on the ground in front of the brown box, she reached in and pulled the envelope out, flipping it over so she could run her finger along the seam to open it.

But it wasn't even glued shut.

She pulled the flap open, and removed the card that sat inside. The front was simple, proclaiming "Happy Belated Birthday!" in large bold letters.

She opened the card and was a bit overwhelmed by the massive amount of handwriting that she assumed was Fu's on the inside. Starting on the left side, she began reading.

'_Happy Birthday! Eighteen, huh? That's a pretty big deal. So I got you something, well, two somethings. But the second was more of an afterthought. But it'll be first because it's less important._' Tayuya smiled at the antics. '_You're hair's always getting in your face. So I got you something to fix that, cause your face's too pretty to hide all the time. It should be with this card._' She looked around to make sure she hadn't dropped something, and then realized there was still something in the envelope, and turned it upside down over a cupped hand. A few orange metal hair clips fell out. '_I had some extras, and thought you might like a few, for those times when you need to see clearly._'

Tayuya put the card and envelope on the corner of the box, moving the large strand of hair that was always falling over her eyes up and to the left, spreading one of the clips and pushing it into place before snapping it back down. She checked to see if it would stay there, and was satisfied when it didn't move around.

It felt strange not having her vision obscured slightly by the blob of red. But nice too. Like it helped her see the things not just physically, but mentally as well. She carefully put the extras in one of her pockets, making sure they wouldn't fall out, and picked the card back up.

'_Your other present's a little more complicated. And since it's a bit embarrassing to talk about and explain out loud, I'll just write it down here._'

'_There was this one day where I came over to eat lunch. I was standing on the stairs, about to open the door and go in, when I heard this music coming from inside, from a flute._'

'_The music was so sad. And so lonely. I couldn't stop myself from thinking it deserved to be happier. And it went on for a long time, until it suddenly shifted, like it was a different song. It still felt the same somehow, but it wasn't as lonely, and then it gradually became brighter and brighter, until it felt so warm and content. But it wasn't just one set of notes anymore, there was a harmony that I could hear, dancing about between highs and lows, but always coming back to join the melody. Something about that harmony resonated with me, in my soul. I didn't know why I felt like that, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't get that song out of my head. It was like I had been looking in a mirror._'

'_It wasn't until a few days later that I figured it out, and knew in my heart that it was true. That song was your life. That melody was you…. and, and somehow, that harmony was __**me**__._'

'_That was when I knew for sure that I had fallen in love with you._'

"You _baka_." Tayuya whispered. Tears creeped out of the corners of her eyes, running down her face and falling onto her shorts. "You really should have said something earlier."

'_I don't know if you feel the same way, and it's alright if you don't. I still want to be friends. But I hope that someday, I can hear you play that song again. So this present is something I thought would help. Please don't think of this is a bribe or something to make you feel guilty. I just really wanted to give you something I knew you would appreciate. Especially for your eighteenth birthday. So happy birthday._'

'_Your friend, now and forever, Fu_'

Tayuya set the card down on her lap, and took the smaller box out of the brown one, opening the flap at the end. Something made out of hard black plastic was inside, and she tipped it so that it slid out into her hand. She put the empty box back inside the other one, the black case sitting on her knees. Metal clasps sat on one of the sides, so she rotated the case so they were facing the right way. The outside was completely featureless.

Snapping the clasps open, she slowly lifted the lid and looked inside.

"Oh, _Fu_."

It was the flute. The beautiful, engraved, sterling-silver keyed flute from the store the day she had gone out to buy a new one.

_How did she know? How could she have possibly known?_

Her fingers trembled slightly as she reached out and traced the vine pattern on the main body.

She must have gotten this all together the day before they had gotten away from Taki. Had she planned on giving this to her once they settled down in Iron? And then it had been pushed back to Kumo? Tayuya could understand wanting to make sure it was done at the right time, especially considering the sensitive and emotional contents of the card, and running for your life from a village was definitely _not_ the right time to confess to the person you were in love with.

She wished that the girl had anyways.

Tayuya gingerly reached into the case, and started pulling the pieces out, fitting them together.

Even if she hadn't been able to fulfill Fu's wish while she was alive, she could fulfill it now.

* * *

Chiriku sat at the top of the steps, waiting for Uzumaki-sama to return. He was meditating, thinking about the young girl who had so many trials ahead of her. He was blessed to be able to assist her at the beginning of her journey, a person who would undoubtedly become a legend without equal.

A haunting melody drifted over the tree tops, and Chiriku listened to it.

He felt a great deal of loneliness and anger in the beginning of it, but after a short while it changed, slowly becoming lighter and airier. A second set of notes joined it, and he could understand the great joys of the counterpoint and the happiness and love the first melody derived from it.

Then the song grew frenzied, worried, and the harmony abruptly cut off, leaving the main theme alone and wandering for a great long time. But at the end, the melody became peaceful and calm, and Chiriku could sense the resolve and strength it gained from its final acceptance, the determination it had to move forward and change.

The song slowly became soft and quiet, fading into the wind.

Yes. He was truly blessed to have been able to help one such as her.

* * *

Tayuya made her way back to the temple, walking through the trees. She felt a sense of inner peace, catharsis that came from both the emotions she had used to create the mausoleum of ice, and from her expression of love to Fu in the form of her song.

She walked slowly up the steps, and saw Chiriku sitting on the pedestal like she had been yesterday.

He had said that he didn't know who had put her seal there, or why. She had learned something about what it meant, that it somehow meant her soul was removed from the cycle of rebirth, making her immortal.

She needed to learn more about this seal. What it made her into. What she was. And why.

Tayuya needed a seal master.

"You have completed your task?" Chiriku asked as she reached the top of the stairs.

She looked up at him. "Yeah. And, I think I'm gonna to be going. I need to find a seal master who can help me understand this more."

"I see." He paused thoughtfully. "The last I have heard, the only one currently operating is Jiraiya of the Sannin."

Tayuya winced. Yeah, this was not going to be fun. Maybe she looked different enough that he wouldn't recognize her when she found him.

"Reports from Konoha last put him somewhere around Keishi. Finding him from there should be trivial, considering his habits." he finished.

She eyed him carefully. "Why are you telling me that? Aren't I an outsider? Isn't that some kind of security risk?"

"Perhaps. But I think it is alright considering your situation." He smiled at her warmly. "I trust that you wouldn't abuse this information."

Urgh. Way to lay on the guilt.

"Keishi. That's what, about 5 hours from here?"

He nodded. "Yes, if you're traveling using shinobi methods. You should be able to make it by sundown, thus making finding him all the easier, as he will probably be in the red-light district by then."

"Well, okay. Uh, thank you for all your help." she bowed politely to him.

He smiled again, and bowed in response. "No, it is I who should be thankful. You are always welcome to return here if you feel you need a place of solitude. Before you go, I have something for you."

He pulled something out of his robe. A small book.

"It is what I studied and learned from when I first entered this monastery. But I feel you might benefit from it more than I will now."

"O-okay, thanks." She took it from him, tucking it into one of the large pockets on the side of her pants, and began walking down the steps. At the base of the stairs she looked back and, seeing that he was still at the top outside the gate, waved to Chiriku.

He waved back, and she turned around to enter the forest, heading east towards the capital of Fire Country.

She had a pervert to find.

* * *

**A/N:**

Oh man. Feels. Well, I can tell you we're past the majority of that now. It's all uphill from here.


	17. An Unexpected Encounter

**Disclaimer:**

Were standard storage seals never really explained, despite the fact they were used absolutely everywhere? If so, I don't own _Naruto_ nor any of the associated characters.

* * *

**Chapter 17:**  
**An Unexpected Encounter**

Finding Keishi was not a problem.

Neither was finding the red-light district.

The capital was huge, and stuck out on the dusky horizon like a sore thumb, its lights announcing its location to those (like Tayuya) who traveled via trees. The red-light district was similar, if a little more involved. They still used red paper lanterns. Electric instead of gas, but it was the principle of the thing that mattered, not how it was accomplished.

Finding Jiraiya on the other hand, was proving to be quite an arduous task. It was times like these where she wished she had a super-nose like Fu. Instead, she was forced to enter into the brothels and subtly probe them.

Tayuya did not do subtle. She knew that from experience.

After the third attempt where she was turned away, she gave up, frustrated, and decided to try another route: the street rats.

She knew they were around, having been one herself in Tanzaku Gai. And she knew how they worked, too.

Slipping into an alley, she pulled the small scroll out of her breast wrap through her right sleeve, and unsealed some money, shoving the scroll back in its place. She really needed some of those shinobi-style snap-closed pockets to stick stuff like this in, as she didn't consider her civilian pants secure enough. Which she was going to prove now.

She'd gotten out three thousand ryo, more than enough to make her a mark, but not enough that they'd suspect bait. Carefully arranging the bills in her pocket so that they were barely visible and looked like they had been hastily shoved there, she exited the alley and started walking around the district.

The red-light district in Keishi was historic, and it showed in the architecture and layout. Traditional sprawling buildings had modern pieces growing organically out of them like tumors, which was an apt description in her opinion, as it made them look fairly ugly. But the services and products sold here didn't make a lot with the yakuza's chunk taken out and didn't leave the owners able to fully renovate. So they made due by slowly adding on piece by piece, creating monstrosities that started in classic wood and rice paper, and ended with plaster and glass.

Certain roads were obviously made by removing strips of shops, as they were very wide and the two buildings on either side had no windows facing the new road. It was probably done to match new city fire code. Or something like that. The roads here were dirt, unlike Takigakure, which had had cement roads until the rural areas. Though she suspected the more affluent areas here had paved roads.

A boy bumped into her. "Sorry miss!"

Her hand snaked out and snatched his forearm. "No you aren't, runt." She dragged him over by force to the nearest secluded spot without anyone else around. Another alley. Surprise, surprise. The kid was short, as tended to happen on the streets because of malnutrition, but she guessed him to be around eleven or so.

"Hey, hey, what're you doin', lady?" his face was the model picture of innocence.

"Cut the innocent act, kid. You're better off fooling the tourists." She held out an open palm. "I grew up in a place just like this. Don't think I don't know every trick in the book. Now hand the cash over." It was a half-truth, since all she _remembered_ was living on the streets, even if she knew she had had lived with her parents in a house before then.

His face lost its charm and innocence. "Then what the hell are you doing walkin' around like that? You lookin' for trouble?" He shoved the wad of bills back into her hand.

Tayuya laughed in his face. "Kid, I'm a fucking ninja. Don't even _try_ the intimidation act. I could take you and your three buddies behind me down before you even blink." He blanched, and waved his hand, slashing across his neck while looking behind her. "Smart move, runt."

She grinned, letting go of his arm, and he jerked it back, rubbing the red mark she left behind. "What d'ya want?"

"Information. I'm looking for a guy. Long white hair. Red marks on his cheeks. Metal plate on his forehead that says 'oil'. You guys seen anyone like that?" she asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I couldn' say." he replied, looking at his bare feet and kicking the dirt.

"I'll give you the fucking money, smartass. Just tell me if he's around." She held out the bills in front of her.

The kid looked up, and snatched them away. "Yeah, I seen 'im." he answered.

"Where?"

He looked at her coolly. "Tha's not what ya asked."

Well, she'd tried honey. Now for vinegar.

Tayuya punched the wall right next to his head, only millimeters from his left ear, temporarily reinforcing her arm so it caused some of the cement to crack. His eyes went wide, the blood draining from his face again. "Maybe you don't understand the position you're in. I'm being _generous_. I could get this out of you _without_ the ryo. I am only paying you because I know what it's like to be where you are. But. Do. Not. Fuck. With. Me." she growled.

"H-he hangs around the bars over on street four. I only seen 'im two or three times." he whimpered

"That's more like it. Fix that shitty attitude or you're going to end up on the wrong side of a blade." She'd seen it happen more than a few times. And he was lucky she wasn't one of those people. "Now scram."

He ducked under her arm and sprinted away, the other three kids that had been in the alley following right behind him.

She had a location. Now she just had to narrow it down.

* * *

She found street four.

And it was _all_ bars.

Tayuya let out a stream of curses.

There were about eighteen various places. And she was going to have to check all of them, not even knowing if he was here tonight. She cursed in her head and headed to the first one, intending to go all the way down on one side, and come back on the other. Hopefully, she'd find him.

"Nope."

"Nuh-uh"

"Sorry."

"Never seen 'im before in ma life."

"Look, you gonna order something or not?"

"Who?"

Tayuya wanted to tear her hair out.

The first hit she got was at the seventh bar. The owner said he'd been in there once, but never came back.

Re-invigorated by her slight lead, she kept going.

The next place with anything was five bars beyond that. He said the guy had been there three times last week, but he hadn't seen him yet this week, which made Tayuya doubtful of her chances of actually finding him.

And then she got to number 15.

* * *

Tayuya entered the location wearily. Her patience was down to microscopically thin layers. She aimed for the bartender.

He was an older guy, with gray hair, and was only perpetuating the bartender stereotype by polishing a glass tumbler with a rag, eyeing it, and then polishing it some more. He turned to face her when she got close.

"You old enough to be here?" he asked.

"Yes." she said through clenched teeth, pulling her ID out from her pocket where she'd started carrying it since building 2 and slapping it down on the counter. Her eight month sojourn had been enough to make it so that her card actually said she was eighteen, instead of seventeen like when she and Fu had entered Iron.

He looked it over, and then handed it back to her. "Well, alright then. What can I get for you?"

She crammed the plastic rectangle back into her pocket. "Nothing. I'm looking for a bastard with long white hair, red marks on his face, and a metal plate on his forehead."

"Oh, you mean like him?" the bartender asked, pointing over her shoulder.

Tayuya whipped her head around, following his finger. In the corner of the room on the bench seats sat a man with both of his arms around a woman. Who were very obviously being paid to be there. He leered at one, and reached his right hand over the woman's head, picking up a dish of sake and sipping at it casually, a blush on his face.

It was most obviously Jiraiya.

Tayuya wanted to hit her head against something. If she had only started on _this_ side of the road, she could have been done in ten minutes, instead of the eternity she had spent going door to door.

She turned back to the bartender. "Yeah. Thanks."

"No problem. Glad to help." he replied, returning to polishing his glass.

She strode over to the table that he was sitting at, pulled out the chair opposite him, and sat down hard. "Do you know how fucking _hard_ it is to find you?" she ground out.

"Heeeyyyy. Hic. Have I mett you shomwhere?" he asked, grinning at her goofily.

Fucking hell. He was completely inebriated. She had to deal with a drunk Sannin. Wasn't that supposed to be Tsunade's thing? Her frustration in trying to find him became tinged with annoyed exasperation.

"I think you've had enough goddamn alcohol." She moved the plate and pitcher of sake away from him, and he frowned at them.

"Naaaahhhh. I'm fiiiiine. 'm naht drunk'" he slurred.

"Yes. You really are. You're fucking plastered." she told him. "And it's like…" she looked around for a clock and found one. "One 'o clock? When the hell did that happen?'"

The two women at his sides looked at him and stood. "Well then, our time's up. See you later, big man." the one on the left said, blowing him a kiss, while the other one waved demurely.

Jiraiya looked absolutely heartbroken as they walked away, following them out the door with his gaze.

Great. She had to babysit a 50-year old man.

Maybe she could turn this to her favor.

If she took him back to wherever he was staying, she would at least have a location on him, and she might be able to stay there to make sure he didn't skip town like she'd heard he sometimes did. But she'd have to put aside her annoyance and frustration to deal with him and try to get him wherever that was.

Assuming he could even communicate where he was staying at this point.

"Alright. They're going to be closing up soon, so we've gotta go." Tayuya told him, suppressing her agitation.

He nodded at her happily, and she growled in her head. She'd forgotten how much drunk people got on her nerves.

Standing up from the circular wooden chair, she moved around the table. "Can you stand up on own? Or am I gonna have to fucking help you walk?"

He started to stand up, and slipped, but she was enough under him that she managed to catch him and hold him upright a bit using his arm. Barely. It really wasn't helping that she was a foot shorter than him and he was almost a hundred pounds heavier, based on what she could feel. There was no way he would be able to actually lean on her for support.

"Come on. Let's get going." She pulled on him slightly, and he began stepping forward, gripping her shoulder to stay upright.

They managed to make it out of the door and to the middle of street four without any incidents, Jiraiya having already paid for his tab before he got past the point of no return.

"What direction?" she asked.

He looked both ways and then turned to look in the direction opposite of the one she had come from, heading away from the red light district. "Tha way."

He seemed to be gaining a bit more coherency. Maybe the cooler air was helping sober him up. Though with the amount of sake he had drunk, she didn't think it would help much more than this.

The walked down the road, making it to the end, and then having Jiraiya look in the direction and telling her where to go. It continued like this, for six roads until they came to a multi-story inn. At least he seemed to remember where the place was.

"Is this where you're staying?" He nodded in response. "What floor?" she asked, praying that it wasn't the fourth floor. Drunk people and stairs did not get along, and she was not going to be able to support him up them.

His face scrunched up thoughtfully. "Twoooo." he strung out, grinning. Well, that wasn't _so_ bad.

Tayuya led him over to the staircase, transferring his left hand off of her shoulder and onto the peeling iron guardrail, and then traveling around to his other arm so she pull him up the cement stairs.

"Come _on_. I didn't spend all this fucking time dragging you this far for nothing." It was like dealing with a five-year-old.

They made it to the second floor without any pauses, which was an improvement. He switched from the guard rail to the elbow-high cement barrier, and they walked down the strip of doors until he halted.

"Thiz one." His slur was almost gone. The man must have one hell of a liver.

"You got a key?"

He shook his head slowly. "Gakis inshide."

She walked up to the red door marked '26' and pounded on it. A few muffled thumps and a high pitched 'OW!' came out from behind it, until footsteps managed to sound like they were coming closer. The knob rattled, and then turned, opening the door.

A blond kid with blue eyes wearing pajamas and a weird black sleeping cap stood in front of her. It only took her a moment to place where she had seen him before.

_Oh. Fuck me._

It was the kid with the shadow clones. From the forest. With the trees that crushed her and the fucking pansy Uchiha. The one that had been constantly yelling about 'Sasuke' that she'd punched in the face. That had been one hell of a right hook. She'd been really proud of that. Either way, his clothes, while different, weren't enough to make it so she couldn't recognize her. He looked essentially the same.

He rubbed sleepily at his eyes, and looked at her. His eyes held no recognition, thankfully, and she supposed that _she_ looked different enough that he wouldn't be able to tell who she was. And then he turned to the still-sobering Sannin behind her.

"Ero-sennin!"' He ran out of the doorway and kicked the white-haired man in the shin. Jiraiya only groaned in response. "Stop staying out so late!" The blonde boy turned to Tayuya and bowed hastily. "I'm sorry if he caused you any trouble, thank you for bringing him all the way here."

"Yeah. Sure. About that." It was too late to go try and find a place to spend the night nearby at this point, and while she _could_ just sit outside the door and wait it out, she really wanted some sleep. Last night had felt great. Even if she knew she didn't need it, it at least made her _feel_ human, despite knowing with a dread certainty that she wasn't anymore.

Plus, if she did stay with them, she could talk to Jiraiya as soon as possible. It wasn't like they could do anything to hurt her, either. One of the better benefits of being condemned to a freakish cursed life/death… thing.

"I don't have a place to stay. You think I could spend the night with you guys?" she asked.

The blonde squinted his eyes and scratched his head. "Uh, well, I guess it's alright if you're really okay with sleeping in the same room as Ero-sennin." he said cautiously.

"Great. Let's get him inside." Tayuya moved around him to get one of Jiraiya's arms, and the kid got the other. Together they led the large man into the room. It was plain, with two futons laid out at the end of the six-tatami mat floor, and the blonde boy pulled Jiraiya over to the one that didn't have the covers thrown back.

"You got another futon?" She didn't want to sleep on the floor if she could avoid it. At that point, she would just sit against the wall and wait until the sage woke up.

"Uhhhh. I think there's one in the closet." he responded, unsure.

Once they had the man lying down on his mattress, she went over to the small closet by the still-open front door, closing it while she was over there, and checked to see if there actually were any others or not. Luckily, there were two, and she dragged one of the flat folded bedsets and a summer blanket out of the closet and over to the side of the room, grabbing a pillow at the same time. She unfolded the mattress, and arranged the covers on top.

The kid was standing near the door, next to the light switch, and he yawned widely as she looked at him. "I'm good." she told him. He nodded, and flipped the switch off.

She waited a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the dark, and then removed the red tube that sat on her back, putting it by the head of the futon. The orange hair clip in her hair came out and got set down next to it, along with the three from her left pocket, which she took out and placed beside the first. The small scroll from her breast wrap and the book Chiriku had given her came last.

She looked over to the other two beds. The kid was already back under the covers and out like a light, while Jiraiya was sprawled haphazardly across the top of his. Tayuya rolled her eyes at her situation, crawling under her own blanket.

Sleeping in the same room as an enemy Sannin and a former opponent. Had she really changed that much?

She lifted her right wrist, looking at the green bracelet that pointed off in the direction of the Fire Temple, proof of the time and bond she had with Fu. And then she moved her eyes up to the storage seal on the back of her hand, proof of the family and legacy she had found.

Yes. She had changed. But weren't things better this way? She didn't really know, but it _felt_ better, which was what was important, right?

Tayuya fell asleep to thoughts of mint-haired friends and flame-haired fathers.

* * *

"AHHHHHHHH!" a loud scream woke her, and Tayuya bolted upright, jumping up and looking around for the source of the sound, adrenaline coursing through her and causing her heart to beat wildly.

The blonde kid stood staring, pointing his finger at her, his eyes comically wide. "You're that flute girl!"

_Oh goddamnit. Seriously? __**NOW**__?_

She collapsed back onto the thin mattress and turned so she was sitting with her back against the wall and her knees drawn up so she could rest her arms on them. The two windows had sunlight streaming through them, so it must be morning already. The light was on, and the boy had changed clothes, from his pajamas to the same hideously garish orange jumpsuit he had been wearing in that forest. Did he not have any other outfits?

Thankfully, Jiraiya hadn't woken up from the loud noise, utterly dead to the world. For now at least.

Tayuya turned her head back to the boy and glared daggers at him. "Yeah. I am. Now what's the fucking idea waking someone up like that?" she was pissed at being roused so abruptly. And in the middle of some nice dreams too.

"B-b-but." he stuttered out.

"B-b-but what?" she asked, taunting him. "Damn, kid, either spit out already or shut up and let me go back to sleep."

"You! Orochimaru! Where's Sasuke!?" He was obviously struggling for words.

"Yeah, not anymore. And I know nothing about what your fucking boyfriend's up to. The last I knew he was still inside that damn barrel with you. So unless you dropped him off a cliff or something, you probably know better than I do."

The blonde kid flushed at her implication, and had a stronger reaction than she expected. "He's _not_ my boyfriend! He's my rival! And my best friend!"

"Yeah? Then why the fuck did he abandon your village if he had such a great friend?" She selectively ignored the fact that she'd had more than a small role in convincing the stuck-up bitch to leave.

He fell silent, his face clouding with sadness. "I don't know." he said morosely. "He said he wanted to be stronger, and that the village wasn't letting him. But joining up with Hebi-teme all by himself won't do anything."

Tayuya snorted. "Maybe it will in the short term. But in the long term, you've got that abso-fucking-lutely right." She liked that nickname. She'd have to remember that one.

"Hey! Yeah! What about you! You had that curse seal thingy too!" he said, getting some of his spirit back.

She turned her head around, lifting her hair, and showed him the back of her neck where her seal had been. "Nope. Not anymore. I'm completely free of the cunt." She let it fall, and turned back around, shifting so she was sitting cross-legged.

His eyes grew wide again. _This kid is ridiculous._ "You can get it off? How? Then we just need to find Sasuke and get it off, right?" His voice was full of hope and excitement.

"No. It's irreversible. I'm an anomaly. It's impossible no matter how you look at it. I _died_ to get it off. And even that doesn't do anything normally. I still don't know how the fuck it happened."

He looked shocked. "Died!?" She nodded, and he scrunched up his face. "Wait. How are you here?" He jumped back in horror, making a weird pose on one foot. "A-Are you a g-g-ghost!?"

Was he stupid? Or just reactionary? "No, I'm not a fucking ghost." _At least, I don't think so._ "I carried that asshole back here, remember?" she said, nodding over at the still-sleeping Jiraiya.

"Oh. Right." he relaxed, but then tensed up and pointed at her again accusingly. "But that doesn't let you off the hook! Why're you here?"

"Why should I tell some snot-nosed brat? I was only looking for _him_, not you." she said tersely. "You just happened to be here too. And what the hell's up with that anyways? Why are you traveling with a Sannin?"

He puffed up his chest. "I'm his apprentice! We're on a training trip!" Man, this kid was way too trusting, just telling her something like that. And then he seemed to realize it, becoming mortified. "But you can't go telling anyone that!"

"Who the fuck am I going to tell? It's not like I'm going to be running back to 'Hebi-teme' anytime soon. Or ever. And I'm pretty sure nobody's intimidated by a kid ninja like you."

But an apprentice huh? Maybe he wasn't as much of a lost cause as she had thought if one of the strongest ninja alive had singled him out.

He shook a fist at her, a blood vessel popping out on his forehead. "Hey! You take that back! I'm a great ninja!"

"Uh-huh. One who can't even stop a pansy from running away from his own village." she countered.

His expression fell again, becoming downcast, and his entire body deflated. "I tried." he said. "I really tried." She almost felt bad for him. _Almost._ But she was still too annoyed about the rude awakening to really care.

A noise rustled over on the side of the room by the windows, and they both turned to the source of the sound.

"Oooooh. My head. Did someone get the number on the cart that ran me over?" the white haired man groaned, slowly shifting into a sitting position, his back facing them.

"Ero-sennin!" The blonde boy rushed over to him.

"No. It was your own fucking fault, dickhead. And I was the one who had to carry you all the way back here." Tayuya responded.

Jiraiya perked up at the sound of her voice and looked to either side of him, and then turned around slowly to the right, looking at her with wide eyes. He poked the blonde's thigh next to him, and cupped a hand around his mouth so that it directed his voice towards the boy. "Is it just me, or is there a young woman in our room?" he whispered loudly.

"She's there. And she's _really_ mean." the kid whispered back.

_Seriously? Mean?_

"You know I can hear you guys, right?"

Jiraiya's eyes widened again, and he moved his hand, holding it in front of his mouth as he cleared his throat.

"A-hem. So. What did the gallant Jiraiya do to have you grace us with your womanly presence?" he asked.

She looked at him like he was being stupid. Because he was. "You drank five goddamn bottles of sake last night, and I had to help you get here at two in the morning."

He had the decency to blush slightly, and rubbed his head. "Oh. Uh. Thank you then. That usually doesn't happen. Must've been a good night." He laughed a little and then squinted at her. "But then why are you still here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'm _here_ because I need your fucking help. Analyzing a seal. And with how you move around so randomly, I decided to stay here instead of risking you leaving when I wasn't looking." she answered.

The sage cupped his hand back over his face, shifting to a loud whisper directed at the boy again. "She's got quite the mouth, huh?" The kid only nodded in reply. "So, what do you think? Should we help her?"

The blonde squinted. "I don't know. She used to be with Hebi-teme."

Jiraiya's expression became stony, and he dropped his hand, turning his head to the side to look at the boy. "That's a fairly serious accusation." He turned back to Tayuya and cupped his chin, peering at her. "Though now that you mention it, she does look familiar." He was thoughtful for a moment, and then looked up and snapped his fingers. "Ah! You were one of those kids in that barrier!"

_Shiiiiiiit._

She hurried to explain before he threw her out without even letting her say anything. "Yeah, sorry about that. I did some really bad stuff, and fucked up. I'm _really_ sorry about that entire thing." she said honestly, as quickly as she could. "But I'm really not with Orochimaru anymore. See? No curse seal." She showed him the blank back of her neck. "And I'll tell you anything you want to know as proof. Anything."

_Just, please don't throw me out without giving me a chance. I need to know what the hell this thing is doing._

"Hmmmm." He eyed her suspicously. "You _seem_ to be telling the truth. But I don't know. Orochi can be really slippery. You could be sending information back to him."

"I'm not with the fucking cunt!" she shouted, getting angry just _thinking_ about still working with him. "And last I knew, he didn't want anything to do with you or the blonde pipsqueak, and I don't know why he would!" Tayuya took a deep breath to try and calm down. "Look, I'll do _anything_ I can. What do you want?"

"Huh. You don't know, do you?" he repeated ambiguously."And you're completely serious about not being with him anymore."

"**YES!**" she asserted, trying to convey her sincerity.

"…" He thought for a second. "Answering some questions wouldn't hurt your case."

She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Great. What do you want to know?"

The blonde boy at his side sat down next to him, crossing his legs and keeping a careful eye on Tayuya, like she would attack at any time.

Jiraiya thought for a second. "His hideouts. Where are they? The ones that you know of."

"If you get me a map I'll draw you damn Xs where all of them are. There're too many to just name." she said.

"Here." he dug around in his cloak and pulled out a small square of folded paper with a pen clipped to it, tossing it to her.

She pulled the pen off, and unfolded the square. It was a huge map of the elemental countries, in exacting detail. A couple of the locations she knew of were already circled, and then crossed out. Those must have been discovered, so the snake had abandoned them. "Alright." She laid the map on the mattress, and started adding more circles, labeling them as she went. There were twenty-two places that she knew of in Rice, and then thirteen outside.

The room was silent while she worked, the other two watching her with interest. It only took her two minutes. Being a guard for the bastard meant she knew every damn place like the back of her hand.

"Done. I even fucking labeled whether it's a bunker, a lab, or a simple hideout. You're welcome." Tayuya slid the map over to him with the pen on top, not bothering to fold it back up since she figured he'd want to see it.

He turned it so that it was oriented properly, and then started looking over the additions. "… If this is real, you just saved us a _lot_ of work." he said after a minute.

"It is. I'm not playing around." she told him. "What next?"

He folded up the map and put it back in his robe. "Hm… How did you get the curse seal off? We've got a couple people who could use that."

Ugh. Not good news. "Like I told the kid: it was special circumstances. I'm the only one I know of." she answered truthfully.

"And we can't reproduce it somehow?" he asked, skeptical.

"I don't even know how it happened, so no." Tayuya started summarizing what she knew. "The curse seal is a combination of sealing and bioengineering. When it's applied, there's an initial growth period that the user has to go through, as the seal grows into your chakra network a short ways and becomes fused to your pathways. That's the stage that has a ten percent survival rate, as a person's chakra system has to rapidly adapt to a new invasive presence and the taint of it. After that, every use releases a number of enzymes and chemicals from the seal, a few of which I didn't even know about or the effects of until mine was gone."

Jiraiya nodded, and she assumed that meant they had had that information already.

"The primary enzyme helps process external energy from somewhere, Orochimaru said something about 'nature'. It then combines it with your own chakra to create a hybrid that you can use to enhance technique effectiveness." He looked shocked, but then hid it quickly. Why was that surprising? "It's like adding an accelerant to a fire. The other enzymes create a chemical high that enhances the already-present feelings of power and it becomes addicting, _fast_. And _then_ there are some kind of loyalty and submission directives built into the seal that actually suppress higher levels of thought, reasoning, and judgment, like the outlawed slave seals. Those were the things I wasn't aware of until I didn't have it anymore."

The older man was aghast at that revelation, and couldn't even form a sentence in response. And the blonde had gone blank-faced around 'bioengineering'. So she kept going.

"The second stage advancement, the one that uses the barrel and seal tags, forces the seal to grow even more, completely taking over your chakra network, the 'root' of the growth going all the way to your core, where it can draw on your chakra and then re-inject the hybrid stuff straight into you pathways to be used. The seal _cannot_ be removed once applied, as it is actually fused to the walls, becoming a part of the person. The only way to deal with it is never, ever use it, which is impossible since the application forces you into a level one state."

The sage was amazed at the wealth of information. "You seem to know a lot about this."

"I was interested in biology, so the bastard showed me the notes to prove it wasn't harmful." she said in explanation. "Except they were only part of the full thing, and didn't detail _any_ of the extra stuff like those directives. And when I had it on, I was too brainwashed to care. I have zero loyalty to the cunt now, and I fucking hate him for lying to me and using me like that."

He nodded in sympathy. "I could understand how you feel. Especially after finding out about those extras." he said, disgusted that his former teammate would ever stoop so low. He had thought the Edō Tensei had been bad. But manipulating living people like that was worse. "Could the argument be made that the Uchiha is under an external influence that's warping his mind and causing him to act abnormally?"

The seated boy perked up at hearing the question. Maybe his intellectual abilities only increased when it came to information that could be used to get the red-eyed pansy back.

"Easily." she answered. "Although he was planning on using the kid as a body, so it's more than likely the thought inhibitors weren't included. But it would still change his behavior: increased aggression, less emotional control, etc. Hell, once I got it off, I felt like a completely different person."

And now the blonde looked like he could barely contain himself. "Hey! That's great, isn't it? That's got to be enough for them to let Sasuke return!"

Jiraiya looked at him. "Maybe. It depends on what happens between now and then. There are some actions that can't be excused, no matter how much influence you're under." He turned back to Tayuya, his eyes cold. "Like being an accessory in the death of the Third Hokage."

The blond started glaring at her, as if he had completely forgotten about that before now.

_**FUCK.**_

She swallowed and laughed nervously, knowing that she could seriously screw this up her if she wasn't careful, making it so that he wouldn't ever help her. "H-hey. Look. I did some really, really bad things. It was a real eye-opener when I lost the fucking seal. I changed. I'm different now. I'm _trying_ to make it up and be good person. I know sorry doesn't exactly cut it, but I said I'd do anything. I just gave you the location of every fucking hideout I know _and_ told you about how the curse seal works!" she said, trying to get across how _much_ she had changed.

Because she had. Meeting Shin and Yomi, befriending Fu and then falling in love with her, finding out about her parents and meeting her grandfather… yeah, she was a _completely_ different person than she had been a year ago. As could be proven by the change in her birth-blades.

"True… But that was more of a test to see if you weren't with Orochimaru any more. You still have your own actions to account for." He sat silently, his eyes closed, thinking, and then nodded sagely, matching his title. "Alright. If you'll really do anything, I've got something you can do. And it'll go a long way to proving to me how sincere you are."

"…what?" she asked, getting a sinking feeling.

Steam came out of his nostrils, and a notepad and pen materialized in his hands. "Inspire me!"

The blonde looked annoyed. "Stop being such a dirty pervert, Ero-sennin!" he yelled at the man. That told her _exactly_ what his request involved.

The sage took it in stride, looking overly offended. "Hey! I consider that an insult! I'm not a pervert."

_Yes, you are._

Jiraiya jumped up and struck a pose. "I'm a **SUPER PERVERT**!"

Oh gods. "And providing suitable inspiration is important for my works." he added, sitting back down.

"Inspiration for what?" She was curious what the hell he could create that anyone would care about.

"My books!" The hand that had held the pen now had three paperbacks fanned out in front of him. The name "Icha Icha" was splayed across the covers, each with different subtitles.

_And suddenly, it all makes sense._

"You wrote those?"

He nodded proudly. "So you've heard of them? Have you read them? What did you think?" Kidōmaru had had all three, and had lent them to her when she had gotten interested in why he kept reading the books in his free time. He hadn't exactly been the literary type, more into video games.

"Yeah. I mean, they were okay, I guess." she responded truthfully. The weight of her harsh review caused him to be crushed to the floor. "They're kinda sexist, but I get that because of the target demographic."

"Sexist!?" he said, looking up from where he was laying on the tatami. "Icha Icha Violence has a strong, independent female lead who only shows her soft side once the protagonist gets to know her enough!" He sat back up.

"Yeah, so? That doesn't mean it isn't sexist. And she was willing to fuck him the first night after he got to that point. That's not exactly realistic. And it felt out of place." she countered.

"B-b-but-" he spluttered, reminding her of the boy earlier. "But that's what the readers like."

"I know. That's why I said I understood it _for the demographic_. Aka primarily men …although some women probably enjoy it too." Tayuya could think of a few.

The blonde boy sat there watching their conversation, twisting his head back and forth to always look at who was talking. If he kept doing that he'd strain his neck.

The books went back in Jiraiya's robe.

Well, if that was all it took, she could count it as already done. As long as he didn't want anything 'else'. Then there'd be a chakram headed for his nuts faster than he could say ow.

"But, alright. I can do that." The boy and the man both froze in shock, staring at her.

She shifted back to a cross-legged position and started taking her top off, undoing the buttons on the underside of the collar of the purple kimono-like shirt and shrugging out of it.

"Hey! Hey! It was just a joke! I wasn't being serious! Keep your clothes on!" The boy next to him sported a blush as bright as a sunburn and the Sannin was waving his arms at her. The shirt was around her wrists by now, only her breast wraps covering her chest.

"…What!? Then why the hell'd you say it!?"

She pulled the shirt back up, but left it unbuttoned for now since she needed to change anyways.

"I was just kidding! You ever hear of trying to lighten the mood? …I didn't think you'd actually do it." He pouted. "That was a first."

"Then don't fucking suggest something that you don't want, because I'm being serious!"

"You're not even close to my type anyways." he muttered.

"Oh? And what's you're 'type'?" she snarked.

"Hm." Jiraiya thought about it. For all of half a second. "Older than twenty five. Curvy. Mature. Blonde hair. Brown eyes. And _huge_ knockers." He made squeezing motions in front of him, blushing and giggling perversely.

…_You just described Tsunade._ The blonde kid didn't seem to miss that fact either, looking at the larger man to the side of him oddly.

"Look, then is there something else you actually _want_?" she asked, trying to salvage the situation. "I really need a someone to take a look at this seal and tell me what the fuck it's doing."

"Maybe. I'll have to think about it. What's this seal we're talking about like, anyways?"

"The characters are a twenty-fourth of an inch each in size, and it's a basically a solid block four and a half inches tall." She made a rectangle with her thumbs and forefingers in the approximate size of the knot. "I had to use a magnifying mirror and calipers from the place I was working to measure them they're so tiny."

He shook his head. "That's not possible. Seal compression can only reduce characters to an eighth of an inch at the most before they become illegible."

"Well it's _not_, because I've got it fucking _tattooed_ on my chest."

"Was that what that thing was?" he asked, incredulous.

"_Yes_. See?" Tayuya pulled apart her shirt expose the section that was visible over her bindings, making the boy flush a second time.

He stared at the knot. "Okay, okay, I believe you." Jiraiya noticed the black markings on the back of right her hand for the first time. "And what's that?" he asked.

"What, this?" She looked at the back of her hand. "This is some weird storage seal. It has a bunch of stuff in it." His eyes bulged. "Oh. That reminds me. I need you to unlock a section of this thing too."

"Wait, wait, wait. If it has more than one thing inside it, how do you get out what you want?"

"…Don't you just think about what you want?" She'd never really thought about it. But that was really the only thing she could of her father having done to solve that issue.

"You're telling me that that seal, on the back of your hand, is an _intent-based, multi-item storage seal_!?" his voice climbed.

"Um, Ero-sennin, what does that mean?" the boy next to him questioned, looking confused.

The sage turned to the blonde. "You know how a when you seal things in a regular storage seal, you can only seal things of one type? Like a seal to hold twenty-five kunai or a seal to hold shuriken. And then you can only get things out in the order you put them in?" The boy still looked a bit confused, but nodded anyways. "She's saying _that_ seal" He pointed at her hand. "Has the ability to hold more than one type of thing, and that to get out the thing you want, you only have to think about it when you're unsealing it."

The boy was still fairly puzzled. "But, what's so special about that?"

Tayuya agreed. "Yeah. What's the big deal? I mean, I get that that's not normal, but I didn't think it was super amazing or anything."

He leaned closer to her. "Girl, you don't realize what you have on you, do you? You have something that _knows_ what its user is trying to do, able to dynamically create, switch between, and destroy sealing spaces, which requires some form of a regulated organizational system. And integrating that into a seal that size? That's _unbelievable_." He explained, trying to convey the profoundness and complexity of such a task.

"O-okay. If you say so." She was a little unnerved by the man's sudden enthusiasm. Five minutes ago he had been asking her to undress to prove that she was sincere about turning over a new leaf. And now he was going all fanboy over this seal. It was enough to give a person whiplash.

And she really didn't know anything about sealing other than the tiny fragments from her father's memory. Maybe that was why it didn't seem such a big deal to her. Then again, compared to the gigantic array she had seen her father use to save her life, or the knot on her chest that _somehow_ meant she could never die or age or anything, and therefore made her about as immortal as you could get, she supposed every other seal, even a really advanced storage seal, paled in comparison.

But something he said caught her attention. 'Dynamically create'.

"Wait. Does that mean I can put more things in it?" If that was true, it could be used for _so much_. Like her swords. And her scroll of money. She wouldn't have to deal with taking the giant scroll out of the tube all of the time to get the stuff she needed often.

"_Yes_. That's what I'm telling you. Although it might not work like that right now, if it's somehow locked or frozen like you're saying. And it probably has a limit on the number of things it can hold."

Huh. Well, that was still really handy.

"But who the heck made that thing, anyways?" he demanded.

"My father."

Jiraiya stared at her for a second and then shook his head in disbelief. "Damn. Your father must have been a real genius at sealing. Like the Fourth or something."

She stared at the twisting, swirling circle on her hand, thinking about all of the things her father had given to her. A life. _His_ life. A family. A history. A legacy. And a request to carry on where he had failed.

"Yeah, he was." She unknowingly smiled, but the other two in the room saw it, and were momentarily stunned by how genuine and warm it was. And then they regained their senses.

"Can I look at it?" Tayuya looked up at him and saw his eyes were gleaming.

"… Will this help you decide to look at the other seal? And… uh, could you maybe help me learn sealing so I don't blow myself up?" she asked, even though she knew that was a long shot. "Again."

Well, now if she blew herself up she'd come out of it alive. Probably. But she didn't want to do something stupid like seal herself in a pocket dimension where she'd have to live until the main universe reached heat-death. Saying that would be a boring not-life was a _massive_ understatement.

He squinted his eyes at her for a moment before responding. "We'll see. I'll need to verify that map, so consider yourself on probation for now. And I can't let it be said that Jiraiya wasn't willing to give someone a second chance. Now come over here." He waved for her to get closer to the seated duo.

Tayuya got up and walked over, sitting down in front of him and holding out her hand, palm down. The blonde boy to Jiraiya's right who had been mostly silent (she got the feeling that was a real rarity based on their earlier conversation) scooted closer to her, trying to see what the Sannin was doing.

Jiraiya looked at the back of her hand briefly, flipped it over, looked at her palm, flipped it back, and raised her wrist to get a better look, staring at the characters and trying to divine their purpose. And then he fixed her with a piercing gaze.

"This is an Uzumaki seal." he stated with absolutely certainty. The kid's eyes got wide.

"Uh, yeah? I'm an Uzumaki. Tayuya Uzumaki." she told him.

The blonde boy beside her fell backwards in a dead faint.

* * *

**A/N:**

I caught up on the chūnin exam anime filler arc for the hell of it, now that it won't (immediately) influence how I write Fu's character. She's so… bubbly. And happy. And Naruto-like. I couldn't stop laughing. I like my Fu a lot, but the anime one's definitely got me beat in terms of spontaneity. My version is much more subdued and cautious about relationships and has been completely scared off from making 'a hundred friends'. lol. I'm kind of curious what it would be like to have Tayuya and Fu from this story (either where they are at the end of Part One or later on) meet their earlier/anime counterparts. Maybe I'll do it as an omake.

Oh, Naruto. You're just too much.

Prickly Tayuya is so adorable.

Jiraiya! Naruto! You haz them!

Please review! Like it? Hate it? Love it? Tell me!


	18. Naruto

A theorist:  
Aughhh. I _wish_ I could answer all your questions about her immortality right now, but they're part of the plot. I've actually already got some of them written into the next chapters, so you'll get a couple answers through there. The only thing I _can_ tell you right now is that she can survive annihilation. The rest you'll just have to find out as she does, which is half the fun anyways, right?

**Disclaimer:**

Did Naruto ever express any interest in finding family, despite the fact that two fairly important characters (Nagato, Karin) were from the same clan, proving that they hadn't been completely wiped out? If so, I don't own _Naruto_ nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 18:**  
**Naruto**

Jiraiya leaned over the golden-haired kid, slapping his cheek. It had only been about thirty seconds after she had told them her full name, the first fifteen of which had been Jiraiya staring dumbly at her, and the next fifteen had involved the Sannin noticing the blonde's lack of consciousness and trying to rouse him.

The kid's eyelids fluttered as he muttered something inaudible "Mrghhh". He opened his eyes, and sat up slowly.

"Wha- Was I dreaming?" The boy paused, looking at Tayuya, and wiped his eyes again. Then he pointed at her.

_What's with all the pointing these two do?_

"Who are you!?" he demanded loudly.

"Tayuya fucking Uzumaki." she replied. "I said that already. Why the hell is that so surprising?"

Tears began leaking from his eyes, and he sniffled loudly.

And then he dove at her, grabbing her midsection tightly. She tried to pry him off, but he was attached to her like a limpet, so she just gave up and sat there as he continued to sob into her shirt. She'd be changing it later anyways. Jiraiya sat next to them, amused, if the look on his face was anything to go by.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked, hoping someone would enlighten her. No answer came.

The kid finally released his grip after about five minutes, and pulled back. Snot dribbled from his nose, and his eyes were red from crying.

"I-I never knew." he said between breaths and tears, sniffling every couple seconds.

"Never knew _what_!?" She was so confused right now. And she didn't like it.

He grinned widely, showing his teeth, and laughed, even as tears dripped off his face. "That I had a family."

She turned to Jiraiya for an explanation, seeing as he was the only coherent one who seemed to have a clue. "What the fuck is he talking about?" He just shook his head, and jerked it in the blonde's direction, drawing Tayuya's attention back to him.

The kid started laughing at her reaction, and wiped the tears from his face. "I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Waitwaitwaitwait. What?

_WHAT?_

Her mind froze and backed up for a second, trying to process what he had just said as she stared at him.

"Wha-How?" she spluttered out incomprehensibly.

Jiraiya began to speak. "Well, when a man and a women love each other–"

"Oh, shut _up_ you perverted ass." she snapped. She was not in the mood for jokes right now. He stopped, if just because of the expression on her face.

"Yeesh. Redheads. Why is it always redheads?" he grumbled.

"Hey! If you're an Uzumaki, why don't you have red hair?" she asked, turning to the blonde.

He sat silently for a moment. "What?"

"Red hair." She tugged at the long clump hanging in front of her eyes and nose that wasn't currently pinned back. "Uzumakis have red hair."

"How d'you know that? Do you know anybody else?" he questioned, quizzical.

She shook her head. "But it's what my father said, and it's in his book I've been reading. Uzumakis without red hair were really uncommon." He looked confused. "Here, I can prove it, alright?"

Tayuya unsealed the book from the back of her hand and opened it to the third page, where the photo was. The boy moved sideways a little, so he could see it while it was in her hands. Jiraiya leaned in closer so he could see the photo as well, albeit upside down.

She pointed to Shu. "See? That's my dad, and that's me. The exact same color. It was one of the key identifiers of who was part of the clan. So why don't you have it if you're really one?"

"I dunno." Naruto said shrugging, but he seemed to be getting worried about it.

Jiraiya shifted around, and had a guilty look on his face.

"It was his mother." Naruto's head whipped up so fast Tayuya thought she heard a crack. "His mother was an Uzumaki, and had the red hair. But it didn't get passed on to him for some reason"

"Y-Y-You know about my mom!?" He looked shocked, as if this was the first time ever hearing about her. Why wouldn't he know about his own mother?

Jiraiya sighed. "I shouldn't be saying anything about it at all. It's part of your parent's will in order to protect you. It was on their orders. They made a lot of enemies, and didn't want you to get caught up in it or killed."

What was going on here? Protection? From what? And why? It was starting to sound like this kid was from a yakuza family or something.

She thought about it, and then realized he had said the word 'will'. "Wait. They're dead? His parents are dead? He's an orphan?" she asked. This was starting to have some really weird similarities to her own childhood.

The older man nodded in response, looking his age for the first time. "And I _really_ can't say any more than that until you're eighteen or a jōnin." he said somberly, facing Naruto. "I know how much you've always wanted know if you had family. So, I figure you're better off knowing that than doubting who you are, even if I had to break my promise to your parents to tell you. But I'm sure they'd understand in this situation. They loved you, and they only wanted you to be happy. They loved you so much, their dying wish was for you to grow up, not under their shadows, but living your own life and making your own path. Do you understand?"

Naruto wiped away the tears that had resurfaced. "Not– *hic* Not really. B-but if it's what they wanted, I've… I've gotta follow their wishes too, right? Cause they're my parents." he said, nodding to himself. He was being unusually mature about this for what she had seen from him so far. Tayuya didn't think she could have said the same thing, had she been in his place.

"But really," Jiraiya shook his head in disbelief. "I don't think they ever planned on something like this happening. There aren't very many of you guys left."

"W-what? Why?" Naruto asked, still trying to get himself together.

Tayuya who answered. "We were wiped out. Attacked by three countries who joined forces, and completely outnumbered us. _Thousands_ of people were killed. Not just the Uzumaki, but other clans who lived on Uzu, like the Yakin and the Hasu. We didn't stand a chance."

Naruto looked aghast.

"All their talent and knowledge for sealing, lost…" Jiraiya said wistfully.

Tayuya grinned victoriously. "No. Not even close."

"What?" he turned to her, shocked. "What are you saying? Was some of it saved? Like in a hidden room or something?"

"No, nothing like that. The entire island was razed, and they were specifically targeting places like the main sealing hall, so nothing would have survived." She was still grinning. "But one boy, a fifteen year-old apprentice to one of the sealers, managed to escape. And in his hand, he carried a scroll. A scroll that he and his shishō had compiled during the six-hour siege. Containing all of their history and everything from the sealing archives. That boy, that apprentice that managed to escape, was my father."

Unlike Naruto, he didn't faint at the shocking revelation, but instead gaped like a fish, his jaw moving up in down.

The blonde laughed, his tears finally beginning to disappear. "You look so stupid, Ero-sennin." Jiraiya snapped out of his stupor.

"_Gods_, no wonder he was a genius." he commented.

Tayuya made an affirmative sound. "He managed to learn and memorize every single seal he ever saw. He devoted his entire life to it." she said. "Waiting until the tension of the shinobi wars died down to try and find any other survivors of the massacre, and gather the clan back together. But he never got a chance."

Both Naruto and Jiraiya were enraptured. "W-Why not?"

Urk. Personal history.

"Uh. Well… My mother died when I was five. And… he died when I was seven."

Jiraiya's face lost some of its color. "That's what you meant when you said 'again' before, wasn't it? When you asked about being taught sealing. Something happened. A sealing accident."

She nodded and looked away. "Yeah. It…it was my fault. I really fucked up. I tried to learn fūinjutsu on my own, and had a failed activation. Completely blew up the front of the house, and threw me twenty feet away."

"How did you _survive_ that?" the Sannin asked, astonished that she was even talking to them.

_Nice going, Tayuya. Run your mouth off a little, and now you have to give them your entire fucking life story._ she thought, berating herself _…but maybe I can get the kid to understand something if I do._

They looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to go on.

"I didn't." She sighed in resignation. "I lost both my left arm and leg, and was covered in fourth and fifth-degree burns. My father recognized the sound of the explosion from his time as an apprentice, and came running. He found me, bleeding out and dying in our front yard. He knew he didn't have any time, so he got me into a sealing chamber as quickly as he could, and wrote out an advanced version of the medical stasis seal. I stopped breathing before he finished, but he still activated it."

Jiraiya was curious. "I haven't heard of the advanced form. What's the difference?"

"The time ratio thing. Uh, I think it was five hundred thousand to one? But it was labeled clan kinjutsu, because of some weird term"

"…Time snap." he said. "Geez. I never thought I'd hear about things like this again. This was the sort of stuff Minato dealt with, not me."

"Ne, what's a stasis seal? And what's time snap?" Naruto asked, confused. "…It sounds like a plant."

The seal master decided to try and tackle his question, if just to see if he could do it. "Alright gaki, let's see if I can remember enough to explain this in a way you can understand. You can't use a storage seal on living things, because it completely isolates the contents in a sealing space. No air, no nothing, except for the object. But a stasis seal slows down time inside it while allowing in things like air, giving doctors more time outside to look for cures to a terminal illness, or to wait on an organ donor. But they're not used very widely. People don't like using time-space seals, because they can become unstable. Time snap is what happens when the seal falls apart. You following so far?"

"Not… really." the blonde replied.

Tayuya just sat back and listened, intrigued. She hadn't really understood what her father's memories had been talking about, and this looked like a good way to learn it in a way even _she_ could comprehend, since it looked like Naruto had the same amount of sealing knowledge as her: zilch.

"Alright then, let's try it this way. So." He held out both of his hands flat, right next to each other. "If my right hand is normal time, and my left is time inside the seal, they move forward like this." His hands crept forward, but the right one moved about four times faster than the left. "Once it gets to a certain point," His hands kept advancing at their respective rates, until there was a foot of a gap between them. "The strain gets too much, because _everything_ should be existing on the first timeline, but now isn't. You still with me? Inside the seal" he raised his left, "and outside the seal" he raised his right.

"I… think so." the boy responded. "The slow one is too slow, and fast one wants it to be faster, because it has something the fast one doesn't." he summarized.

"Right. So to fix that, the universe does this." Jiraiya's left hand flew forward to match up with his right.

"And now everything's the same again. Isn't that good?" Naruto asked. "Cause the slow one caught up to the fast one like it wanted. Like when it started out."

Jiraiya shook his head. "You can't do anything without energy. Chakra starts the seal, which creates the second timeline and then pushes it out of place. And you're also using chakra when you deactivate that seal, which is used to transfer the object between the two timelines. But now there's no energy to do that, and it still wants to fix it. If it didn't, we'd be left with a giant hole torn in space-time."

"And that's bad… right?"

"Yeah. Really bad. We _really_ don't want that to happen." the sage told him.

"Uhh.. so shouldn't it just go somewhere and find energy to help it do the jumpy thing?"

"That's kind of what it does. Energy and matter are convertible. And the second timeline contains a bubble of matter. So it converts that to energy, and uses that to pull the second timeline forward really fast, like a rubber band." he repeated the jumping motion with his hand. "That's the 'snap'. Now everything inside the seal doesn't exist anymore. It's just gone. So the second timeline disappears, because it's completely empty, and shouldn't even be there." His left hand fell away.

"Whoaaaaaaa." Naruto was wide eyed. "But, when does it know when the slow one is too far away from the fast one?"

"Uhhhh." Jiraiya screwed up his eyes, trying to remember something. "Minato talked about some kind of constant number that you can use to figure out the rate of destabilization in relation to the amount of mass in the bounded area and the time-displacement ratio." Naruto just looked at him blankly, completely lost. "It, uh, depends on the size of the thing in the slow one and how different their speeds are."

"Oh. Why didn't you just say that the first time?" he huffed, annoyed.

The sage tried to mollify him. "Gaki, this is some really complex stuff, I'm just parroting things the Fourth told me at this point. I was completely lost when he was telling me about it the first few times. So don't feel like you're dumb if this is out of your league. Cause I did too." Naruto settled down a little at that.

He continued. "The only way to use a stasis seal properly is within a certain amount of time, and deactivate it correctly. Because then, everything in the second timeline" he raised his left hand and put it back where it had been before, a foot behind the right one. "Is transferred to the first timeline, but without having the second timeline catch up to the first. The energy to do that is provided as chakra when you deactivate the seal, and it takes more the longer you wait. Subjectively, less time passes for the object inside the seal between when the it's activated and deactivated." Jiraiya anticipated Naruto's question and simplified the last sentence. "It ages less."

"That's so cool! Hey, can you teach me how to do that?" he asked excitedly.

"No, gaki. It's _really, really_ dangerous stuff, not to mention I don't even _begin_ to understand anything beyond the basics of time-space seals. And weren't you listening?" Jiraiya pointed at Tayuya. "She blew herself up and nearly died because she was messing around with _simple_ seals and didn't know what she was doing. So _don't_ go trying anything on your own." His tone was deadly serious.

Naruto gulped, suitably cowed. "H-hai."

Tayuya had a question. "If things like air can pass though the bounding field, why can't solid objects?"

Jiraiya turned to her. "Because the strain of crossing between timelines tears everything apart. Air's fine, but anything else is disintegrated. It was something the Minato struggled with when working on the Hiraishin. There's a chance of it happening when you're jumping across space, not just between timelines. But that's really the end of my knowledge on all of this.

"Getting back to what you were telling us, what happened after all of that? I mean, obviously he saved you, but how? Waaaaait." He squinted at her. "It was a seal, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was, he was a seal master, after all. He managed to design it in three weeks. It was the largest out of everything he knew, and it–"

"Character count?" Jiraiya interrupted.

"Uh, somewhere around ten thousand." she answered, trying to remember exactly how many, but only recalling a vague number.

He just stared at her in barely-concealed awe. "A design of ten thousand from scratch? In _three weeks_!? Kami. I am _so_ glad that Minato and him never met. There wouldn't be anything left."

Tayuya continued from where she had been interrupted. "Anyways, it didn't run on chakra, because he didn't have enough. So instead it transferred his life-force to me and healed me as a side-effect. But it wasn't a perfect fix, and I ended up losing my entire memory, except for basic things like my first name and age and how to talk. The transfer sucked him dry, and left him with only weeks left, but in that time, he was able to collect everything his teacher had given him, adding his own notes and personal journals, into a giant scroll." She placed a hand on the leather bound book on her lap. "He put all of it into this seal, and made some sort of timer so that it was undetectable until my eighteenth birthday."

Jiraiya was looking at her hand like a starving dog in front of a prime rib steak.

"And _yes_. If you help me open it, and promise to teach me sealing and analyze this thing on my chest, I'll let you have a look." she told him.

"That's playing dirty." He tried to look away, but his eyes kept getting drawn back to the seal. "Fine. We'll see. You've been upgraded from 'probation' to 'consideration'. What kind of seal master would I be if I passed by a once-in-a-lifetime chance to go through the lost Uzumaki sealing archives?"

"A fake one." she answered for him.

"…That was a rhetorical question."

Tayuya looked back over at Naruto. "The _point_ of that whole thing is that you're not the only one who grew up not knowing their family or their parents. I lost all of my memories from before I was seven, and never knew anything about them afterwards. Fuck, I didn't even know my last name until less than a year ago. And then I found out I had a clan, and I met my grandfather."

Naruto couldn't stop himself. "Is he an Uzumaki too?"

She shook her head. "No. My mother was from one of the other clans on Uzu. She was a Yakin, and so was her father. He lives in Iron Country right now, probably wondering why the fuck I haven't written him a letter telling him what I'm doing with his swords."

"Swords?" the blond asked, curious.

"He's a bladesmith. A well known one. The Yakin were a clan of bladesmiths, and their weapons were considered some of the best you could get. We all have this innate ability to use Yin chakra, and that let them make the perfect blade for the intended wielder, using spiritual energy to hold the form while they gave it body with the metal."

"Wow. That's some ability." Jiraiya remarked.

"Yeah, I want to say it's a bloodline limit, since it seems like we're actually able to attune ourselves to another person's soul or spirit or something, and then reflect it in things that we make, even doing it unconsciously. For me that's music, and…" _I ended up playing a song that reflected the spirit of the girl I fell in love with without even realizing it_. Her heart twinged sadly at the thoughts of Fu and the beautiful flute she had received.

"…Anyways, they had this tradition where they'd make a weapon for every kid in the clan, and it could be considered as saying what the child would be like, since it reflected their soul at its purest state, before it experienced anything."

"A-and you got one of those?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. But I'm a weird case. My sword actually ended up changing names and meaning a few months ago, and he had to make a second to go with it."

"How could it change meaning? If it represents a person before they even do anything, how can it–" Jiraiya trailed off. "Oh. You would still have the same soul, but you can change what's being expressed. Like a god with multiple aspects. But it's got to be really rare that a something like that happens, because you'd have to go through something that made you really change."

Tayuya was speechless for a second. "Yeah. Actually, that's exactly how he described it too."

Naruto was really interested now. "Can I see?"

"Um…" she looked over at Jiraiya, hoping he'd notice her slight discomfort and calm the younger boy down.

"Hey, I'm curious too, since they were made by a master craftsman. It's rare you see stuff like that anymore." he said in response to her look.

The boy at her left nodded emphatically in agreement.

Damn. "Haaa. Okay. Fine. I'll show you." she said, acquiescing.

Tayuya got up and walked over to where the tube was, picking it up and walking back to where they are.

"What's that?" the blonde asked, moving around to try and get a better look.

"This is how I carry stuff. It was my friend's, and she–" Tayuya trailed off, thinking about that moment in the cave when Fu had told her to take care of it. "She entrusted it to me." she finished softly.

"O-oh." he seemed to pick up on the fact that it was a sensitive topic and let it go.

_At least he's not entirely out of touch with other people's emotions._

"It's a scroll carrier. Cause you don't want paper to get wet when you're traveling through a rainstorm, right?"

Jiraiya looked on curiously as she unscrewed the cap, pulled out the thick scroll, and unrolled it on her right, so that it wouldn't be in-between her and the other two.

"Now, where the hell are they?" She hadn't even seen the blades since after that fight with Kakuzu and Hidan. A burst of frustration and anger rose up at the thought of them and that group, but she clamped down on it. Now was not the time to be thinking about them. She would have more than enough time to deal with them after she had gotten stronger. An eternity.

"Oh, right." In her bag because she'd cleaned them at that inn. She unsealed Shin's pack and then looked for the small green scroll they were in. "Here."

"Ne, you have a lot of scrolls, huh?"

"Yeah, cause I have a bunch of shit to go in them." She really did. Clothes from Yomi, more from her time in Taki, other stuff she bought there, and then all of Fu's stuff too. She really needed to go through all of it and catalog it, if just so she knew everything that was there, even if she didn't use any of it.

She unsealed her swords, and then walked over in front of the two males, sitting down with both in her lap.

"This is Inochi" she said, picking up the white sword. "This was the blade he made for me first, when I was born. Its original name was Mikoto." she told them. "He interpreted that as 'beloved', which was accurate when I was a child, according to him, but that was before I lost my memories. After that, the name came more to mean 'exalted', representing my arrogance and how I used to see myself as better than everyone else.

"But then something happened that really made me reevaluate myself. I decided that I wasn't happy with my life and that I would make an real effort to be a better person, and because of that, I changed enough that it became Inochi, Life."

She drew the sword out of the scabbard and showed them the blade. The sage looked at it appreciatively.

"It's a beautiful weapon." he commented.

"Yeah, and it's sharp as hell." She slid it back in the sheathe. "After that same event, my grandfather made a second blade. And that was this one." Tayuya picked up the black sword.

"This is Shi. Death." she told them. "And it's really good at living up to that name." she pulled it out of the scabbard, showing them the rows of reverse teeth on the edges.

"That– That looks _deadly_." the older man stated, unsure of what to think.

"Exactly."

Naruto leaned over to look at it. "It's pretty." he said. Jiraiya looked at him like he was crazy. The blonde boy moved his eyes from the blade up to Tayuya. "But kinda scary too. Like you."

"…" Ooookay then. "I'm not sure whether that's a complement or not. But I'll take it as one." she responded, sliding it back into the scabbard. She picked both swords up and went over to the large scroll that was still unrolled a few feet away, and sealed them both in a storage point.

"So what did you go through that could possibly make you change enough to go from 'Arrogance' to 'Life' and 'Death'?" the sage asked.

"Yeah! You never said what happened!"

She walked back over to them and sat down. At least telling them about all of this would be a good way to broach the topic of the seal on her chest.

"Actually. I did. To you." she said, looking at Naruto. He looked back at her, confused, and she sighed internally. "You remember when I fought you guys in the forest?"

"Yeah. You were really mean! And you were always cussing! Well, you still do that. But you're not as mean. At least, right now you're not…" Right. She _had_ been pretty confrontational when he woke her up. She was feeling a lot better now.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about earlier. It takes me a while to wake up and become a real person." she apologized. "And waking me up like that didn't help."

"… sorry." he said sullenly.

"It's okay. It was a… normal reaction, I guess." _Not really. But whatever._ "I have to work on my temper anyways."

Two hours ago she had been unwilling to consider this boy as worth her time. And then she had found out he was part of her _ichizoku_, one of the few that was left of their once-large clan. The first she'd found.

He was family.

And that changed _everything_.

Now she was going to do her damnedest to make sure they stuck together, and that required _not_ viewing him as a nuisance.

Some of the things she had learned about him explained his more rough personality traits, and that helped adjust her view of him from 'annoying brat' to 'easily excited kid who seeks attention and acceptance'. Which seemed to be more the case anyways.

She still had hopes of trying to find other members of their clan who had survived.

The fact that Naruto was family and Jiraiya was so close to him was the only reason she was telling them all of this. Otherwise, she would have never said half the things she had so far.

"Well, anyways. We had that fight, right. I was fighting that pineapple-haired shadow asshole–" "Shikamaru." "And this chick with weird hair and a giant fan–" "Temari." "shows up and does this technique with a one-eyed weasel that cuts the whole forest up. And I got crushed by some of the trees."

"Wait. Did your father's life-force give you some kind of healing or something? Because you don't _look_ like you were crushed by a bunch of trees." Jiraiya asked.

"No. It was a fatal injury. I died." The sage looked at her blankly.

"YOU DIED?" Naruto exclaimed in horror.

They'd already done this once, how could he have forgotten in less than two hours? "_Yes_. I told you that before, remember? The whole 'Are you a ghost!?' thing?"

"Oh. Right." he settled back down.

"And I'm pretty sure that was what happened to all of us, right? The Sound Four, I mean." she said. "I'm not sure, since I never saw them, but that's what I assumed. We wouldn't have gone down without a fight. And at that point it would have been pretty fucking hard to incapacitate us instead of killing us."

Jiraiya was the one who responded. "Yes. They're all dead." That made her a bit sad. She'd known it was what had more than likely happened, but having it confirmed was still hard. She mostly felt sorry for them, because they would never get a second chance like she was. "We were able to retrieve their bodies to help us study the curse seal more, since we'd never seen those transformations happen. You and the Kaguya were the only one missing. They didn't look for you, probably because searching through all of the debris would have been too time-consuming. And the Kaguya because–"

"Because of the giant forest of bones he created and was fused with." she finished. He nodded.

Thank gods that they hadn't tried to find her. She didn't even want to _think_ of what she'd be like right now if she hadn't met Shin and Yomi, and then Fu. Fu had changed her so much.

"Obviously, I didn't stay dead. Making this the _second_ time I've technically died and come back. When I woke up, the curse seal was just gone. _That's_ how I got it removed. But it didn't make any sense, because I've seen plenty of the failed applications, and they still had the roots of it in their pathways." Tayuya explained.

"And you have absolutely no idea how it happened?" the sage asked. She shook her head. "Is that when you decided to defect from Orochimaru? Because you weren't being influenced by the seal?"

"It was really fucking hard. It wasn't just the seal, it was basically brainwashing." she said. "But yeah, I decided to leave him and try to do something good for once, and that I had to stop being such an arrogant bitch."

"Well, that explains your swords, at least. Arrogance to Life and Death. I could understand Life. But why Death?"

"Because I'm not. Alive or dead." He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "Hold your fucking horses. I'm getting there." He relented.

"I woke up, but my lower half was crushed under the trees. So I lifted them off of me. My legs were, uh," She looked at Naruto. It had been really graphic. She'd try and keep this at least mildly clean for him. "complete paste. But then they just healed. Like magic. And later I found this seal on my chest that hadn't been there before."

"I can see why you'd want to know what it's doing, if it showed up at the same time."

"Yeah. Here." She held her right arm out angled away from her body so this wouldn't get her white shorts bloody, and created a four-inch blade of wind from her left pointer finger. "Watch."

And then she slashed downwards, right through her upper arm.

"AHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed.

Her now-dismembered limb fell towards the floor. Halfway on the journey, it leaped back up and reattached itself.

Huh. That was new. It had never been that fast before. That was less than a second. And there wasn't even any blood on the tatami. It was getting faster. And more effective. Ugh. She'd have to think about the implications of that later.

"Wh-WHY'D YOU DO THAT!?" the blonde yelled at her.

"Uh, well, I thought you guys might like to see what it was like. And I thought that cutting my arm off would be less dramatic than tearing my heart out of my chest or committing seppuku or something. This is what I meant when I said I couldn't die. I don't even age anymore."

Naruto couldn't respond to that.

"That… that was time reversal. Localized, _stable_, time reversal." Jiraiya just goggled at her. He was doing that a lot this morning. "How is that even possible?"

"No fucking idea. But I think it's this seal. _That's_ why I came to see you." she explained. "I know how complex space-time techniques are. And one that's acting on my body automatically is a little disturbing."

"I'll take a look at it. This is starting to look like it might be something really important." he said vaguely.

"Great. Yeah. So. I died. And now I'm immortal. Fucking fantastic, huh?" she said sarcastically.

Jiraiya started laughing uproariously. "Oh. Oh. Oh god. That's too funny. Man, I hope I can see Orochi's face if he ever learns about this."

Tayuya smirked slightly at the irony. The man who tries to achieve immortality his entire life, becoming a monster to get it, and the ex-disciple who obtains it, is a monster because of it, and doesn't even want it.

Jiraiya's laughter finally slowed down and ended, and Tayuya took that as her cue to keep going.

"It also been giving me really good chakra control. I don't know how, but ever since I got it, I've been able to learn new techniques _really_ fast. Nature transformation in days fast."

"Like what? Can you give us a non-destructive example that doesn't cause the gaki to scream?"

"Yeah, sure." She spun up two dozen chakrams, and they began orbiting her at all angles. She'd gotten it down while running, somewhere between Hot Water and the middle of Fire on her warpath to Fu. She couldn't really remember, having been in such a blind rage, but somehow she had done it. After that point she had just run in a straight path, the blades chewing through anything in her way.

She didn't even have the think about moving them at this point. They just _did_. And when she wanted one to split off at a target, it was as easy as thinking "Go hit that". It was actually kind of creepy, now that she thought about it. You shouldn't be able to attain that kind of control in eight hours while _running_. And yet she had.

"Pretty…" Naruto reached out a finger.

"DON'T!" she yelled, startling him and making him halt in his tracks, wide-eyed.

Fucking hell. That would have been bad.

She dispersed the circles of wind chakra, gradually slowing them down until they no longer spun, and then releasing the compressed air. If she didn't do it like this, and just let them destabilize, the density and speed of the air would create tiny vortices and blades spinning outwards that could harm people. Except they hadn't phased that chakra-absorbing asshole. 'Pain'. She'd gotten the feeling that name applied to all of those orange-haired purple-eyed freaks.

Tayuya turned her focus on Naruto to stop herself from thinking about them.

"Don't ever touch them. They can cut through solid rock like butter. You would have lost a lot more than a couple fingers." she told him. The kid blanched.

"You know what? I'm done being surprised. It's just one thing after another with you." the sage said. "First you tell us you're not with Orochi, then we find out you two are family, you have the entire Uzumaki sealing archive in your hand, and you can't die from any mortal wounds."

"Or energy deprivation." she amended.

"Sure." he agreed, accepting it in mock nonchalance. "And now you're able to manipulate chakra like breathing. If you told me you could lift a mountain, I'd believe it at this point."

"Not that I'm aware of." she told him. "But you're right. It does sound ridiculous. Except it's not. Somehow, for some _reason_, this is all happening to me. That's the only thing I can think of. And it all started before I can remember, when my father gave me his life."

"I don't even know where to begin other than that seal on your chest."

She nodded in agreement. "And _that's_ why I'm here."

He sat there in thought.

Naruto spoke up. "Um… what were those things?"

She slowly spun up a circle of wind chakra over her right hand and then compressed it tighter and tighter until it was barely visible, demonstrating the process that she had gotten down to a split-second all over her body. Then over her left she created a non-elemental ring, just a whirling circle of red chakra. "Originally, they were a combination of advanced shape and nature manipulation exercises, forcing you to learn both by making you convert your chakra into the nature and control the shape at the same time. I, uh, kinda adopted them as my main form of mid-range attack."

"Oh! So it's kinda like my Rasengan! …But I haven't gotten that far yet. It's just plain chakra. Like that one." he said, pointing to the red circle on the left.

Tayuya spun the chakrams down and released them.

"Rasengan? A spiraling sphere?" she was a little skeptical. What could a _sphere_ do? And how could a sphere even spiral? It seemed like straight lines and simple single-axis rotation would be more efficient for maximum damage. …But maybe not. Something worth looking in to.

He nodded proudly. "M-hm! You wanna se–"

The Sannin suddenly got up and walked to the corner in the left side of the room, causing Naruto to halt mid-sentence. "Gaki, come here for a second." The boy got up and went over.

Tayuya looked on curiously. They were whispering in hushed tones, but they kept getting more agitated, until the blonde declared loudly "She's my family!", at which point they switched back to a whisper. A few minutes later, they seemed to reach a consensus, and turned around and walked back towards Tayuya.

Jiraiya looked at her seriously. "I've decided. I'll trust you for now. You can come with us."

* * *

**A/N:**

"It sounds like a plant." Easily one of my favorite lines in this story so far.

So. This is most definitely pre-timeskip Naruto. Because we're in the timeskip. This universe has already started to veer off of the strict 'canon' tracks. That's going to be accelerating. A lot. Just wait until you see the next few chapters. Heh.

Also! I started a new Naruto story! It's called _The World Turns Without You_. You should go check it out! Give me feedback!

If you see that story getting more updates, or quicker, or sooner, or whatever, it's because it's self-beta'd, unlike this one. But don't worry. This is my main story, and will _always_ have first priority for my time …despite the fact that _Turns Without You_ has already surpassed this story in number of followers and favorites in less than a four days after publishing it. I… guess that means it's good? lol.

Don't forget to review~

See y'all next week!

* * *

**Translations:**

_ichizoku_ (一族) - lit. clan, family.


	19. Legacies

**Disclaimer:**

Did anybody in _Naruto_ ever notice that he was essentially just a kid with undiagnosed ADHD and work _with_ that instead of trying to force him to conform to normal learning methods and punishing him for something he couldn't help? If not, I don't own _Naruto_, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 19:**  
**Legacies**

They sat in a restaurant at about eleven, having decided to take a break from the overwhelming stream of revelations and information that had been exchanged, getting breakfast to give them all time to calm down and think. Jiraiya had said it would be better to start sooner than later on all of this stuff, so they were going deal with the seals after eating, and then work from there.

Tayuya had changed clothes, still in fairly civilian attire as she hadn't yet organized the combination of Fu's and her own things, and thus didn't want to get more out than she had to until that was done. Both the orange hairclip (two now) and tube were back in their proper places, and Naruto and Jiraiya had confirmed that she looked entirely different, with the lack of hat, pinned-back hair, civilian clothes, and the giant red cylinder on her back. Which was great. If it made it harder for anyone to recognize her, there was less chance of any word getting back to the snake, the chances of which had risen exponentially now that she would be hanging around Jiraiya.

"So, kid. How long have you been on this training journey with the perverted wonder?"

The blonde swallowed his mouthful of food.

"Um, eight months?" He nodded. "Yeah. Eight months."

Huh. So they started just after she had begun her weird travel thing. "And what've you learned?" Tayuya asked, honestly curious what sort of things another Sannin would teach an apprentice.

"Uh." He scratched at the side of his head, and then turned to look at the white-haired man sitting to his right. Who was hiding behind a menu.

"Chakra control." Naruto said, turning back to Tayuya.

… chakra control? _control!?_ That was it!?

"I-It's okay though! It's really hard. For me." he looked down at the plate of eggs and hot-cakes in front of him. "I have to practice every day."

"_Yeah_. Everybody has to practice that shit. But it shouldn't be _all_ you're doing. You've gotta let your tenketsu rest and heal, or you'll never get anywhere." She looked at Jiraiya, and pulled the menu out of his hands. "And _you_ should know that. So what the fuck are you doing having him only practice control exercises?"

Jiraiya sighed. "I can't tell you. It's up to the gaki."

That was a cop-out answer if she'd ever heard one.

She looked back at Naruto and he avoided her eyes. Fine. She wouldn't push. But she still thought this sounded like complete bullshit. He could still, _should_ still be working on other things. It wasn't healthy just doing control.

"Alright. But I want to see what else you've got. You need more than _just_ control exercises." the boy nodded hesitantly, and went back to finishing his food.

Tayuya stared at the bare table in front of her. She'd opted not to order anything in the way of breakfast/lunch since she didn't want to use her limited money on anything she didn't actually need. Sadly and slightly humorously, food had become one of those things. Jiraiya had already finished his, so they were only waiting on Naruto.

She put her right elbow on the table and rested her cheek on her palm, staring out the window of the restaurant as people moved around on the street outside, going about their daily activities. Tayuya spun up a coin-sized ring of chakra above her left hand and started playing with it, idly running it around and between her fingers, looping back and forth.

Some amount of time passed, probably seven or so minutes, but she wasn't sure since her focus was entirely on the small circle that she was playing with.

"I'm done!" Naruto said, his voice bringing her back to reality.

She drew the red circle to the center of her palm and crushed it out of existence. "Great. Let's get going."

Jiraiya pulled some ryo out of his robe and set it down on the table before they headed out the door into the sun. The sky was clear, with not a cloud in sight. A perfect day for being outside and training.

"C'mon. It's over this way." Naruto tugged on her arm before leaping up to the rooftop closest to them and running ahead.

Tayuya turned to Jiraiya once the boy was out of earshot. "Seriously. Why the _fuck_ aren't you teaching him anything else!? I don't care if he has the worst chakra control in the world, even Orochimaru was better than that!"

The sage sighed. "I can't."

"_What!?_"

"I said, I can't. I can teach him more, but he's not ready for it yet. _You_ should know better than anyone how dangerous learning something without being prepared is." he said, looking at her sharply.

Well, yeah. But _still_. "You're a seal master. You could at least start him on _something_. You've been with him a _year_."

Jiraiya stared down the road and sighed again. "Maybe… maybe you're right. It's just… whenever I look at him…" He frowned. "It's nothing. Fine. We'll do it your way. If you're going to be learning sealing, there's no reason he can't start too. But in exchange for helping you out with that seal, _you're_ going to be responsible for half of his training. My time's going to get eaten up by that thing. I can just tell already."

She had figured it would be something like this. There was no way she would get this done for free. But she honestly didn't mind. It would give her more time to learn about the blonde and get closer to him, without even needing to reach out to him. Plus, she could teach him more than just control exercises. She still had the scrolls on the Eishuken that Fu had given her, and the ones on the Seishin no Ken should be somewhere in the tube. And she still needed to work on her taijutsu too, so that would be a way to start.

Tayuya nodded in acknowledgment "Alright."

* * *

"I'm ready." the sage told her.

Jiraiya had a bunch of scrolls arranged on the ground around him in the clearing they were in. Naruto stood off to the side where the sage had told him to stay, watching in fascination.

Tayuya stood next to the genin, having been similarly intrigued.

Jiraiya waved his hand again, and she walked over to him and sat down where he motioned for her to do so. "I'll work on the storage seal first. This one might take some time, too."

"Uh. No. You don't actually have to do that. I have the directions on how to unlock it." she explained, unsealing the book and flipping to the back before handing it to him.

He stared at the calligraphy. "…Oh. Well, that makes things easier for me." The sage's eyes roved over the pages while he read. "Jeez. He really was a genius. I mean, I didn't doubt you, but this just cements it. He _really_ knew what he was doing. This won't take very long then." He turned back to Tayuya, placing the book on his knee, picking up the brush on the paper scroll in front of him, and holding out his left hand, which she placed her own right one in.

The man dipped his brush in the ink at his side, drew some strokes, consulted the book, and then drew a few more. This went on about five or six times until he placed the brush down into a shallow bowl next to the ink. The circle on her hand was now augmented with what looked like a looping pentagram, parts weaving between each other.

"I don't know what's going to happen, but let's find out." He placed his fingers on top of five spots around the seal that had been added, and then twisted counterclockwise. The inked pentagram moved with his motion, and he changed the grip so it looked like he was holding something. Jiraiya pulled his hand up, and a crimson cylinder of chakra began slowly lifting out of the circle, following his motion. The sides of the cylinder were covered in characters, and blocks jutted out of the construct in numerous places, making Tayuya think of a large, fancy, cylindrical key. Which was probably what it was.

Once the object had been drawn a foot and a half out of her hand, it stopped, and Jiraiya twisted his hand again in the same direction, even further than before. He let go of the construct and it slammed down into her hand, making her jump in surprise. She looked at the seal. Characters unfolded and re-folded, some swirling into the center as if sucked down into the drawn vortex, while others appeared from nowhere. It halted, looking like it had before, and she waited to see if anything else would happen. Nothing did. She turned to Jiraiya.

"Now what?"

He shrugged. "The book says what you described, just much more technically: the intent is what makes the seal choose what it releases or absorbs. So, try and release a scroll."

Tayuya closed her eyes and thought about the giant scroll her father had described. As large as a fifteen-year-old boy. Bigger than Naruto. She channeled chakra to her hand, willing the object to come out.

A loud 'fump' sounded, and she opened her eyes in response to the sound.

A _gigantic_ scroll wrapped around two rollers lay next to her on the ground, held together with a loop of paper. On the loop was a swirl in the center of it, the same swirl that was on her book. The symbol of her and Naruto's clan.

It was even larger than she had imagined. As large as she was.

Naruto ran over to the scroll and started looking at it before turning to the sage. "Ero-sennin! This is WAY bigger than the toad contract!"

The man was dazed, staring at the scroll on the ground. "I-It's real. Everything you said was true. …It's the entire archives. This, this is _amazing_."

He regained his wits.

"Gaki. Girl." Both of them looked at him, unnerved by the sudden serious tone his voice had acquired. "You need to keep this a secret. No telling _anyone_. If people knew you had this… It wouldn't end well. There's a genetic lock on the seal, so nobody other than you can actually access the contents, but that could make it worse. This is life or death, especially if you're going to try and find anybody else. So not a _word_ to anyone. Understand?" They both nodded.

She completely understood. It was what was the root of all of the other villages' fears, the reason they attacked Uzu. If they became aware she had this, she would never be able to leave the Land of Fire again, relentlessly hunted and attacked even within it. Not something she wanted to deal with.

"Good. Okay, seal it back up. We'll take a look closer look at it later." She nodded again, placing palm on the rolls of paper. Channeling chakra, the vortex composed of the seal's characters spun around, and the scroll was sucked into her hand without a trace.

"That was… different" she commented.

"Hm? Oh, the sealing method? The poof and the smoke and stuff?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah. Why didn't it do that?" That had looked _weird_. Like pulling an object through a straw or something.

"It was mimicking a standard single element storage seal before, just basic functionality with a static sealing space. But now it's fully unlocked, and there's no way that thing could _ever_ be considered basic. I don't know why the process looks like that, but my best guess is that it has to do with how it creates a new space every time something is sealed, and the transfer system between the external interface and the selected storage area. The notes on it probably say more, but I'd have to take a look to really tell you."

She nodded in understanding at his lack of a definite answer. This was _way_ above her head at this point. She wanted to learn things like this, but had to work to get there a step at a time.

"Now for the other seal." Jiraiya said. "I'm going to make a copy of it onto a sheet of paper. It'll let me work on it without needing to fiddle with your chest all the time. Which I'm sure you'd prefer." He got a smirk on his face. "Heh. Unless you want to, of course."

"No thanks. I have shit to do when you're working this, remember?" she said, glancing at Naruto in explanation. The teen had sat down on her right, taking the place of the scroll once it had disappeared.

"I thought I'd give you the option, you know. What with the way you were so quick to take your shirt off before." he said, still grinning.

"Just because I don't give a shit about showing skin doesn't mean I'm a fucking exhibitionist." she replied. "And that's what it would be if it wasn't needed."

He looked offended. "Hey! I'll have you know, I'm a consummate professional when it comes to important things."

"But you're still always a pervert, Ero-sennin." the blond at her side said.

"Yeah, but I'm a _professional_ pervert!" He laughed loudly, and looked at them like he expected them to as well. "Get it, because I make money… from being a pervert… and I can also be professional." Naruto and Tayuya just looked at him blankly.

He sighed. "You guys are tough. But I am actually going to need to see the seal."

Well, duh. "I figured." Tayuya said, starting to unbutton the green kimono-like shirt she had replaced the purple one with.

Naruto stood up quickly. "I! I think I'll go over there and practice my Rasengan." he said nervously, before darting off.

Gods, he was innocent. She finished taking off her shirt, and unwrapped her bindings. Jiraiya picked up a large piece of bare parchment and his brush and moved closer as she lay down on the grass.

"Has he _never_ seen a pair of tits before?" she asked the man above her as he placed the paper on her chest and started drawing things on it.

"What? Oh, no. The gaki's got some of the best I've seen. Very perky. C-cup. A bit bigger than yours." he said, totally straight-faced.

Wait. _What!?_

"What the fuck are you talking about? He doesn't have breasts!"

"Ah, right. Yeah. Hehheh. Funny story, actually. I'll let him tell you that one." he replied, continuing to draw his characters.

… Just. _What?_ She pushed her total confusion to the side, resolving to ask Naruto what the fuck Jiraiya was talking about later.

But if it wasn't nudity, then why did act like it was a big deal? The best answer she could come up with was that he was unused to having family, like she was, and didn't know how to treat her or or act around her. But that should result in awkwardness, not outright _fear_. So what was it?

She couldn't think of anything. Just another thing to ask later, once she got him to open up a bit. Despite seeming so simple, the boy was weirdly complex in areas.

"Alright. This might twinge a bit, but it shouldn't be too bad." He placed his palm over the concentric rings of characters he'd drawn on the paper around the knot on her chest, channeling chakra to his hand. Smoke trailed out from between the sannin's fingers, and she watched in interest to what was happening. He lifted his hand off, and she could see a glowing red impression of the seal on the piece of paper before it faded to a normal black. Jiraiya picked the paper up off of her chest, and she sat up to get a better look.

"See? Perfect copy. Way easier than needing to work with the original all the time. And it lets me do some really useful things I wouldn't be able to do normally. Like this." He ran his thumb over a one of the rings, and the entire thing moved in until she could actually make out a few of the characters. He moved it back, and the image reverted. "It's not actually the seal. It's only an image of the seal. But much higher quality than a photo." He zoomed back in and looked at it. "Damn. This is going to take _forever_. There must be over a thousand characters in this."

"Thirty-two hundred." He looked at her in shock. "What? I didn't count them or anything. I got the area of the seal and just multiplied that by the number of characters that could fit in a square inch. It's actually thirty-two hundred and _eight_, exactly."

"Math." Jiraiya shook his head. "Thirty-two hundred then. Reverse-engineering a seal isn't an easy task. That's why notes are so important. Just warning you, it's probably going to take me seven or eight months before I can actually start telling you anything about it. At least. We're looking at two or three years for a complete analysis if it turns out to be complex."

Tayuya re-wrapped her chest and put on her shirt, brushing the errant dirt and grass off of it. "It's not like I've got anything better to do. Kami knows _I've_ got more than enough shit I need to get better at. Taijutsu, kenjutsu, fuinjutsu, nature transformation, nature recomposition…" Jiraiya's eyebrows rose at that one.

"Recomposition?"

"Yeah. Watch this." She pulled some water out of the air into a ring above her palm, froze it, and then tossed it to him. He looked at it, turning it around in his hand.

"You have a Kōri nature?"

Tayuya shook her head. "No. Yes? I have a balanced Wind and Water affinity, so in that sense, yes. I don't have the bloodline limit, but I've gotten to the point where I can use Hyōton. Sort of. I can freeze things, but not manipulate the ice. That's what I'm working on. And I want to try learning other elements and doing mixtures of them. I got both Wind and Water mastered in less than three months, so next is something I don't have an affinity with. Probably Lightning." she explained.

"Well, you're on your own there, since Lightning's just about the only nature I don't know anything for. Hm…" he stroked his chin. "Both you and Naruto need work on your taijutsu, and he needs to learn elemental techniques in order to work on completing his 'assignment'. You think you could teach him?"

"…I don't even know his nature." How did he expect him to teach him if she didn't know that?

"I don't either. I'll get some chakra paper and we'll test him tomorrow. I know both the Fire and Earth exercises, and you've got Wind and Water, and are going to be learning Lightning. So we've got it covered, right?" He had a point.

Tayuya thought about the other request. "I have some scrolls for a taijutsu style that might suit him… But don't _you_ have a taijutsu style to teach him? He's _your_ apprentice after all." she said accusingly. It was starting to sound like he was just offloading all of Naruto's training onto her.

"No. Not really." She looked at him disapprovingly. "I don't have a normal style, but I'll spar with you guys when I get the time. I already said I'm going to be teaching you two sealing, and I've got my own work with him that's important, plus analyzing this seal now. No matter what you may think, I'm _not_ ignoring him …I owe his parents too much for that." he finished softly.

Well, fine. "I'm going to go look for him. I still need to see some of what he has. And _then_ I'll decide whether you've been neglecting his training or not."

"Yeah, yeah." he waved her off. "If I'm not here when you get back, just go to the inn."

"You better not be off at peeking in a women's bath or something." she told him, standing up and strapping her tube back in its place on her back.

"Who? Me? I would nev–" Tayuya glared at him. "Fine. I wouldn't do that today anyways. Not after all of this. I need to go talk to someone who's probably got a better clue than I do what's going on. And if I learn anything, you'll be the first to know, okay? Does that make you happy?"

"Yes." she bit out. "It's _my fucking life_ after all." She walked off in the direction Naruto had gone, heading into the surrounding forest.

Jiraiya sighed forlornly. "Uzumaki women. And Minato always wondered why I never let Kushina tag along."

* * *

"Naruto?"

She stopped and listened to see if she could get a direction. A weird buzzing noise sounded, and then disappeared. And repeated. Tayuya followed the sound, and it led her to a smaller clearing than the one she had been in before.

"… What the fuck happened here?" The entire place was pock-marked, two foot circles and hemispheres taken out of anything and everything. The blonde boy stood over by a large rock on the left, glaring at it as though it had offended him in some deep way.

"Naruto! What're you-" _Two_ blonde boys turned to her and for a second she halted in shock… Until she remembered how she had even met him in the first place. Shadow clones. Right. She _had_ to learn how to do that. Multiple sources of an auditory genjutsu? That would be killer. Literally.

"Alright clone-boys. What're you up to? What's with all the holes?" she asked, walking closer to where she was.

"This is my Rasengan! Oh. Right! I didn't get to show you before! You wanna see?" He seemed really excited to show her. It was that seeking attention thing that kept cropping up with him. Did he not get enough as a child or something?

"Sure. Show me. I'm curious how the hell a sphere can 'spiral'." Tayuya said, sitting down on another nearby rock that _wasn't_ as pitted as the moon. "I need to get a good idea of some of the stuff you can do anyways."

He nodded happily. "Okay. Here goes!" The boy on the right held out his right hand, his fingers upturned like it was holding a bowl. His left hand gripped his wrist. The boy on the left started bouncing his hands around the right one's cupped hand, and something started to form in the empty space. After a few seconds it became visible, a yellow orb that sat in his hand, pieces and strips inside it varying in color.

Naruto (well, the one on the right), turned back around to the rock behind him. "**Rasengan**!" He drove the sphere into the surface of the stone in one of the few spots still free of any damage. Tayuya heard a grinding sound, and a few pieces of rubble flew out of the stone for a second, and then the sound stopped. A smoking crater was left in the face of the stone.

She got up off of her rock to get a better look, crouching in front of the depression and running her fingers around it. It was perfectly smooth, and a bit warm to the touch.

"So what do you think?" he asked from behind her.

"Pretty cool, kid." That had been pure chakra, without any nature transformation, like he had said before. The only way it could heat something up like this hole, or grind through anything for that matter, was through friction. "But what's with the clone?" Tayuya turned around to look at him.

"Eh? Um… I need him to help me. Because I can't do it all myself." the right one answered, looking down at the ground. "I-I still don't have good enough control to do it alone."

It didn't look like the only problem was control. He had that down alright, able to hold the spherical thing perfectly while it was in his hand.

"Do it again. Slower. I want to get a better idea of what's going on."

"Ero-sennin can do it better than I–"

"I don't want to see it from Jiraiya. I want _you_ to do it." she told him.

"O-okay."

The boy held out his hand again in the same position, and the clone began moving his hands around the not-yet visible object. Tayuya watched carefully, trying to understand what was going on. It was _just_ shape manipulation. So there couldn't be anything incredibly complex about it.

Naruto finished the construction, and held it out.

Tayuya made a thoughtful sound, and then reached out and took the sphere from him.

"H-Hey! What're you–"

"Calm the fuck down." she told him. "I get it. You have to provide equal pressure to the entire thing or it would destabilize. It's just like my chakrams. And I can't get hurt anyways, remember?"

"Oh. Right."

She held the yellow sphere up to eye-level, and peered into it. Shades of amber zoomed around inside of it, circling and swirling like a three-dimensional whirlpool. Ahhhh…. so _that_ was the spiral. A spiral in three dimensions.

"So you" she pointed to the one on the right, what she assumed was the real one "provide the raw chakra and the shape. The shell. Whatever you want to call it. The majority of the power plus the thing that's keeping it from expanding like it wants to. And you" she pointed to the one on the left, the clone "bounce the chakra around that's inside of it. And you do it at those funny angles because you're trying to get the inner rotation to speed up without a lot of constant force, and I _assume_ that each one of these thread-thingys in here is actually on a different axis, which is why the entire thing can be a sphere instead of a circle, like my blades."

Naruto looked at her wide-eyed. "You can see all of that just from looking? You must be _really_ smart."

Tayuya flushed slightly at the compliment. "Thanks. But I also know what I'm talking about, because my chakrams work in a really similar way." She reinforced the shell around the sphere until it was an opaque orange-red, and then threw it towards the middle of the field. As soon as it hit the ground, the entire thing exploded, and for a moment she got a good look at the mass of spinning gold at the center.

"WHOAAA. How'd you do that!? I never knew you could throw it! That's so cool!"

She turned back to Naruto. "Uh. I reinforced the shell by adding more chakra and compressing it down. So that the entire thing would last until it dissipated or cracked. That's how my technique works. Or they wouldn't be able to stay as stable blades until they hit their target. But mine use highly-compressed wind chakra, so they're transparent, not chakra-colored."

Both of the blondes nodded thoughtfully. "More chakra on the outside. Got it."

She shook her head. "It's not just _more chakra_. Just like your problem isn't just with control."

"But that's what Ero-senn–"

"_Jiraiya_ doesn't know everything. Nobody does. You have to draw your own conclusions. That's part of being a ninja." She walked back over to the rock she had been at before and sat down. "Look. Here's what _I_ saw. You're able to maintain the shell and rotate the chakra, even if it's not at the same time from the same hand. And the reason you can't do it with one hand is because you're only using the tenketsu in your palm to create it."

He looked confused. "Isn't that the only way?"

She shook her head, and spun up a half-inch-diameter circle above each of the fingertips on her right hand, tilted so they were facing him. "Each of your fingers have them too."

A clenched fist landed on top of his left palm. "AH! I remember! Ero-sennin did this seal thing, and all of his fingers glowed!"

"Yeah. Exactly. Your palms can be used for most of the power like you're doing, but your fingers could also be doing things, like controlling the chakra that you're putting in with little bursts, or placing more of those threads in by themselves. Yes, you still need to work on control, but that's not the only thing you can do."

"Ohhhhhh. I get it. But how do I learn something like that?" That was a really good question. Tayuya had learned how to use those tenketsu by making scalpel-like blades out of wind chakra from her fingertips. But she didn't even know what his nature was. And from the impression she had gotten so far, she thought that trying to learn both nature transformation and a new shape technique at once might be a little much.

Tayuya got an idea. "Is there a pond or something around here? Like, someplace with really calm water?"

"Uhm. Yeah! Over here!" he ran off to the forest at the right, the clone 'poof'ing away.

She followed, although more sedately, going over what she had learned so far about him and what she thought he could work on.

Logic and deductive reasoning were at the top of the list. A ninja's brain was often their best weapon on the battlefield. If you couldn't come up with a solution to a problem, there was no way you were going to get out alive. Even Fu, who had been more than willing to admit that she preferred acting over thinking, could still react very quickly to changes in a fight, moving to more effective methods of attack.

But Naruto wasn't an over-powered taijutsu-specialist of a jinchūriki who had been working for years to go beyond what anybody had ever thought possible from a bijū host. Fu's armor had been _way_ more complex than a standard partial transformation from what she had said, as she had actually been melding her own biology with pieces of Chomei's in an intentional way to create a hybrid, not just haphazardly adding wings, or swapping limbs with the bijū's respective parts. So she was more than allowed to do whatever the hell she wanted, because she'd had a system that worked, was tailored specifically for her, and was effective.

Naruto, on the other hand, seemed like he needed more in the way of strict shinobi knowledge. She could tell he wasn't dumb. He was scatterbrained. It was more than likely because nobody had ever given him enough of an incentive to really put his mind to learning and make him give his full effort. If he had, he'd probably be pretty knowledgeable based on how curious he was about things that caught his interest. He might even have above-average intelligence that didn't show because of his attention problems. She still couldn't figure out _why_ he hadn't had anyone that'd noticed his issues and focused more on him because of it.

Something felt… off.

* * *

The pair of Uzumakis stood at the edge of a small, twenty-foot wide pond. It was surrounded by trees, the sun's light tinted green from the leaves above. The pond itself was clean, only a little bit of moss and some lilypads growing in it.

"Okay. So here's what I've come up with"

She knelt down and stuck her hand in the water, so that just the palm was below the surface.

"Just like with my blades, you're working with circular momentum, trying to make your chakra move in a forced path. With your palm, it's like this."

She started channeling chakra until a circle of water began spinning below the surface, agitating the pond. Tayuya slowly moved it faster and faster until it was a tube of spinning red energy below the surface, and the surface calmed.

"Well, for me at least. Your fingers can act like that too." she removed her palm, waited for the water to calm down again, and then placed her right pointer's fingertip beneath the surface.

"The first thing you want to work on is making it spin. Don't work about keeping in tight or anything. With your technique, I think that even if you can't hold a shape using your fingers, you'll be fine, since your palm is doing that."

Tayuya released her chakra through the finger, spinning it slowly beneath the surface so it created a whirlpool.

"See? If you want to go beyond that, you can work on keeping the moving water from escaping, so that the surface stays perfectly still." She tightened on the stream of energy she was releasing and forced it into a circle, like she had done with her palm, allowing the pond to still.

"You- That-" She looked up at Naruto, who was pointing at her. "How- Rasengan."

"What?" Tayuya couldn't even begin to understand what he was saying.

"This is just like how Ero-Sennin taught me the Rasengan! How did you know that?"

"Oh. I didn't. But it makes sense. Water is one of the easiest mediums to see and feel motion in, especially with something like chakra, which is just energy. Let me guess, you had to use a ball of water?" she asked.

He nodded. "A water balloon. And then it was a hollow rubber ball. And then a balloon of air."

"Why all three? Weren't you just trying to make it so the water balloon didn't move?"

"Nuh-uh. I had to pop the first two. With only chakra. The last one was the one that wasn't supposed to move."

Ah. Because of the speed. The water would provide too much resistance, and be harder to calm down. But-

She had another idea. "Have you ever _tried_ the last step with a water balloon?"

"Nope. Ero-Sennin never did anything like that." he said, looking at the surface of the water.

"Well, you might want to try. Once you've gotten the finger stuff down. It'd be harder, and force you to use more power and speed and a stronger shell before the water would calm down. You'd be strengthening the technique in general. Maybe even helping you learn how to throw it." He looked excited at the thought of that.

"I never thought of that! That's so cool!"

Tayuya laughed. "Yeah. It is. I want to try and figure out how you're making that technique–"

"I can have Ero-Sennin give you the balloons and stuff!" Naruto said.

Tayuya was surprised about how willing he was to share a strong technique like that. It reminded her of Fu, and how the girl had been willing to teach her her own taijutsu style, and had done so personally for over two months, bringing Tayuya's skill from 'atrocious' to 'passable'.

"That's alright. I want to try and work it out myself. Then I can say you didn't teach me, but I figured it out on my own if the pervert says anything. I'm pretty good at shape manipulation, so it shouldn't take very long." It was _very_ similar to her chakrams, just in a different shape, so it actually shouldn't take longer than half a day. She just didn't want to tell Naruto that, since it was pretty unfair to compare her ludicrous rate of learning chakra-based techniques to a normal person's. She'd probably only let him see it in half a week or so, and say she finished it recently.

Tayuya still thought her chakrams suited her better, especially after all the work she'd put into them, but it was never bad to have a new technique in your arsenal, _especially_ when it could help you improve your others, or worked more effectively in certain situations. The trick was knowing _when_ to change techniques, instead of relying on only one or two things. Like she had been for the past seven years.

"So why don't you work on that, and I'll sit over here and work on something else. If you've got any questions, just… ask, okay?" he nodded happily, and crouched down by the small pond.

She walked over to a tree, took off her scroll-carrier, and sat down. What to work on. Fuinjutsu was out because no supervision, which was a rule she was actually going to follow since her father had been the one to make it. Kenjutsu and taijutsu were out because she wanted to keep an eye on the blonde. So… Ice Release it was.

Tayuya pulled a block of ice out of the abundant surrounding moisture and looked at it, turning it over in her hands. She was still stuck on this. It just did _not_ want to change shape…

Oh. OH.

Of course it didn't want to change shape. _It was a solid._

She felt so dumb. It was obvious. You can't change the shape of a solid, because that was the very definition of a solid. It was only once you broke the bonds that held it together that you could change its shape.

Three months. _Three months_ of trying to figure out the problem, and it had been because she'd made the dumb assumption that Hyōton manipulated ice directly. The only way she had gotten it to change before was through growth, adding more water to coat it and give it a different appearance. To actually alter the ice that was already present meant she would have to make portions of it liquid, working with the water to alter shape.

Gods damn it that annoyed her

She half-melted the block in her hand, forced it into the shape of a kunai, re-froze it, and then threw it at a tree across the pond, where it embedded itself with a hearty 'thunk'.

Naruto jumped from the sudden noise, first turning and staring at the ice kunai, and then back at Tayuya.

"Y-You okay?" he asked, a little fearfully.

What? Oh. Her expression. Tayuya forced her face back to normal instead of displaying the extreme irritation she was feeling.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit pissed at myself about not figuring something out earlier." she told him.

"O-oh. Okay. What kind of something?" he asked "I-I mean! If you don't want to talk about it I won't ask…"

"No, it's fine, it's nothing like that." she thought about how she could phrase it. "You know how water exists in three forms? Water vapor, water, and ice?" He nodded. "A water vapor and water like to move around and match what they're in, like a cup or a bowl, but ice can't change shape, right? If you've got an ice cube, it doesn't magically become an ice _sphere_ because you took it out of the tray."

"Yeah…" he said slowly.

"Well, that's what I've been trying to do. Change the shape of solid ice. Ice cube to ice sphere without going to water in between."

His face scrunched up. "But… Haku could do ice things, and it never looked like his stuff was water?"

"Who's Haku?"

"Um, he was this real pretty-boy. Me and Sasuke had to fight him on the bridge in Wave. He had these ice-mirror things that he could go inside and then jump between really fast, and if he went in one he could come out of another. He said it was a bloodline from this one clan… from Kiri"

"The Yuki?" They were the only ones who had had a Hyōton kekkei genkai that she could think of.

Naruto looked up at her. "Yeah! That one! You know them?"

A member of the Yuki clan with the full-fledged kekkei genkai. She hadn't even thought that any were alive after the… _except for that one boy she'd heard stories about._

How about that.

"No. But I know a little bit about them. The reason it didn't look like the ice was water when he moved it was because of that bloodline. It probably lets the user focus on the shape, and the bloodline unfreezes and refreezes the water for them" Naruto nodded. "But I don't have the bloodline, and right now I can only do this."

Tayuya drained some more water out of the air, freezing it as it collected until it took the shape of a long rod. "Before, I was trying to actually change the shape of _ice_, but now, I think-" she gripped the rod's shaft with both her hands, ran a fine balance of wind and water chakra to her palms, slightly more water than wind, and bent the object like a noodle, before altering the balance so that it was opposite, more wind than water.

She let go with her left hand, and was pleased when it held the bent shape. Just figuring that out meant she'd already made huge progress. She didn't need to unfreeze the entire thing, just balance the natures where she wanted the ice to change.

"Yeah. Like that."

"Wooow." he said in awe. "How'd you get so good at all of this stuff?"

"I practiced. A lot. I didn't slack off at all. Even at my job I tried to do things when I could." she told him. "You've got all day to do this. Every single day. It's why I'm annoyed Jiraiya hasn't been teaching you anything other than control exercises. You could've been learning a _lot_ in eight months. Especially from a Sannin."

"But! You're gonna teach me stuff too now, right?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah. I already told the pervert I was going to be making sure he was actually working with you. And I'll be helping you with at least half of your training while he works on my seal."

"Yes! HA! In your face, Sasuke-teme!" he shouted.

…Now could be a good time to find out about his past, since he was the one who brought it up.

Tayuya leaned back against her tree. "So what's really up between you and the Uchiha?"

"Ehh? We're rivals."

"Yeah, you said that before. But what does that _mean_?"

"Well… uh." He scrunched up his face in concentration. "He's my best friend, even though I don't really like him all the time. And he doesn't really like me, I think. But just because I don't like him, doesn't mean he isn't important to me. _Everyone_ in Konoha's important. But Sasuke…" He trailed off. "I thought, I thought because we were both orphans, and we were both alone, that we could be friends. He acts tough and strong but he's _lonely_. I just… I just didn't want him to feel so alone. But he keeps pushing me and Sakura-chan away, right after we all get closer. He says he wants to get stronger, but he keeps trying to do it by himself. And all he wants to do in life is kill his brother. You're supposed to protect family! Not kill them!"

His brother. She hadn't even made the connection. There were only two Uchiha alive.

Sasuke. And **Itachi**.

Tayuya started seeing red.

Itachi _fucking_ Uchiha.

Sasuke would never get a chance to kill his brother.

_**Because she would do it first.**_

Frost spread out from the ground around her, climbing up the tree at her back and crystallizing the blades of grass at her feet. The temperature around her dropped lower and lower, and Naruto started shivering.

The blonde was lost as to what was going on. "Ta-Tayuya-san!"

"What?" she ground out, and then noticed that the boy in front of her was blue-lipped and shivering, his breath condensing and then immediately freezing in front of him. "Fuck! Sorry! Sorry. I… I guess I lost control of my emotions for a second." She hadn't even known she could do that subconsciously. How long had she been accidentally altering her surroundings because of her feelings?

"I-i-it's o-o-kay." he stuttered, rubbing his arms to generate heat.

The environment around them quickly warmed up now that the heat wasn't being sucked out of it, the frost around her legs and feet turning to dew.

Tayuya needed a distraction or she would just go right back to where she had been.

"So that's Sasuke, what about the rest of your team?"

"U-um. Well, there's Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan. Kakashi-sensei is our jōnin sensei. He's late all the time, and acts really cool. He's nice, but he focuses on Sasuke. He even taught him his special technique. It needs a Sharingan, so only Sasuke-teme could use it, but…"

That sounded like playing favorites. She was getting a biased report, but even then, it sounded like playing favorites.

"Who's Sakura?"

"Sakura-chan… She's learning medic ninja stuff from Tsunade-baachan now."

… Naruto was studying under Jiraiya.

Sasuke was with Orochimaru.

And this girl, Sakura, was learning iryō-ninjutsu from Tsunade herself.

It was like their team was the second coming of the Sannin.

"I used to like her… but, now…" his voice became a whisper. "Now I don't know. I still like her, but it's not the same. I just wanted her to notice me, but she's always looking at Sasuke. Just like everyone else…"

"Didn't you have any friends? Before you were a ninja?" she asked, trying to get a better idea of _why_ he was trying to get people to notice him.

Naruto shook his head sadly. _Ah. So that's where the need for attention's coming from._

"But-But now I do! All of the other kids from my class! Shikamaru, and Choji, and Ino-chan, and Bushy-brows, and Tenten, and Neji, and Kiba, and Hinata-chan. … And that one guy. Uh. Oh! Yeah! Shino! We're all friends."

Okay, so maybe he was a bit better now. But he still had a very obvious need for approval, which was the sort of thing that indicated a distinct lack of respected and valid authority figures in his earlier years. Essentially, he'd been playing his entire life by ear, with nobody to help him.

That was going to change now that she was here.

…

Maybe she wasn't giving him enough credit. At fourteen, she had seen things that would make grown men piss themselves. Even some shinobi. She had killed a _lot_ more people than her fair share (in the hundreds by then), and had been working under one of the most demented people to ever grace the Elemental Nations. In comparison, of course he wouldn't seem as mature. But that didn't mean he _wasn't_.

"Naruto." He looked up at her from fiddling with the left cuff of his jumpsuit. "What do _you_ want from me?"

This was a bit of a stretch. But maybe it would work.

"U-uh, what do you mean?"

"We're supposed to be family, right?" He nodded emphatically. "What does that mean? What do you want me to be to you? What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know… Does it matter?" he asked.

"Yes it–" Wait.

_Did it?_

Tayuya had never had family, or any sort of close relationship other than Fu. Was she trying to pin down _what_ exactly she and Naruto were because _she_ was uncomfortable with that lack of structure and definition? It hadn't mattered before when she was with Fu. So why did it matter here? _Why?_

She struggled to come up with an answer. Maybe it was because she'd already had a label of 'enemy' on Naruto? And switching that with another was easier than removing it altogether and letting their relationship be whatever it ended up as?

Maybe she didn't want him thinking of her as something she wasn't?

But why would he?

Tayuya massaged her temples and then noticed Naruto was still waiting for an answer.

She sighed. "No. I guess it doesn't." He grinned and nodded at her, and she couldn't help but smile a little too.

It really wasn't that important, because no matter what, they were still family.

* * *

It was dark by the time they got back to the room at the motel. Naruto had wanted to get food (yakitori) from a vendor on the side of the street on the way back, and Tayuya had decided just to get some as well since it smelled so good. They walked to the room in relative silence, both full from the food and still more than slightly unsure how to act around the other. Tayuya figured it would take a couple days, if not weeks, before they felt comfortable with each other.

They were both shocked when they found Jiraiya in the room.

"Ero-Sennin! What're you doing here?"

The sage opened his eyes when the light came on.

"There you two are. I could've gone out and some fun before you got back and you wouldn't've even known." he said, blinking in the light.

"Yeah, well, things were going well, so we decided to stay out for a while." she told him.

Naruto had made a little progress with his fingers. Not a lot, but a little. The point was it was progress. He'd probably have it down in two or three weeks. Tayuya had kept practicing her ice manipulation, energized by her discovery and success. She still couldn't do anything without using both hands as a conduit for balancing the chakra, but she felt like she was almost at the point where she could start easing off and using only one hand, working with altering the shape through chakra itself instead of manually.

They hadn't talked much after their discussion, Tayuya's mood still soured by thoughts of Itachi, instead focusing on their work, except when Naruto asked her a question or if she could demonstrate something.

"I have some things to tell both of you. The person I went to speak to had no idea what was going on, and he usually has a _very_ good idea of most things, so he's trying to figure out why. That was a dead end. Tomorrow, gaki, you and I will work on your thing in the morning, okay? I want to try something new this time. Hime can help you in the afternoon while I start working on her seal."

Tayuya spluttered. "H-hime!?" _What the fuck!?_

Jiraiya smirked, pleased he had managed to get under her skin. "It's what I've decided to call you. Because you're the _Uzumaki-ichizoku no Saigo no Hime_. Like the brat's gaki. It's almost an official title since you carry the entire clan legacy. Therefore: _Hime_."

She growled, but couldn't come up with a response. It wasn't like she could stop him from calling her whatever the hell he wanted. He was a fucking _Sannin_.

"Ne, Ero-sennin, don't you already call Tsunade-obaachan that?" Naruto asked from next to her.

"But it fits them both, and Tsunade's not around, so it's not like it's going to confuse anyone."

Tayuya rolled her eyes, resolving not to let it irritate her, and moved over to the side of the room where her futon was. Hell, it could even be considered a compliment. She just had to treat it like it was, and then it wouldn't bother her as much.

Now that she had the time, and she'd actually thought about it, she should organize her things so she knew where everything was, plus she could now put stuff in her hand-seal.

Slinging the tube off of her back, she got the scroll out and rolled it out as far as there were full storage points, and then unsealed her bag too.

This might take a while.

"What're you doing?" Naruto's voice sounded from over her right shoulder. She twisted around so she could see him.

"Organizing my shit. I could use an extra pair of hands if you want to help." she told him.

He nodded, and sat down next to her.

"Alright, so I'm thinking of dividing everything into two major groups. Ninja stuff, and civilian stuff. Within those, there'll be clothes, tools, literature, and other. You think you can figure out what goes where?" He nodded again. "Great. Uh. I'll do most of the stuff in this main scroll, since it's pretty important to me, but you can work on the stuff in the bag. Unseal every scroll, we'll deal with re-sealing stuff when we're done."

They got to work.

Jiraiya disappeared ten minutes after they started, saying he was 'going out'. Tayuya had leveled a glare with him, and that had been enough to get him to agree to being back before midnight.

Half an hour later, they were done unpacking everything.

Tayuya sat down against the wall, wanting to take a break for a moment. "There's less than I expected. But then again, Fu didn't really do anything other than ninja work."

"…Who's Fu?" The blonde asked as he walked toward her.

She struggled to come up with a response she would be comfortable with.

Naruto sat down on her left. "Are they one of your precious people?" Huh. He was more perceptive than she expected.

"Yeah. She's the most precious person I've got. My best friend." _Who I fell in love with without even noticing._ "Most of this stuff is hers. The scroll-carrier in particular."

"Why'd she give it all to you?" he asked.

Tayuya sighed. "I don't really want to get into the details, but she died and gave me all of this. I like to think I'm just taking care of it and using it until she gets back."

He looked confused. "Gets back? Is she like you?"

She laughed sadly. "No. I wish. I want to try and find a way to bring her back to life. But I can't let myself obsess over it. She wouldn't forgive me if I did. And I've got a feeling that she'll be back. I _know_ that she's at the other end of my red string. It's weird. It's not just a belief. I know that as a fact. Even though I shouldn't be so certain about it, I am. So it's only a matter of time. And I know she's watching over me, so I'll be happy with that until she's here."

The blonde boy smiled. "Yeah. I know my mom and dad are looking over me, too. Maybe they're together!"

The redhead laughed at the thought. "Maybe. I bet you would have gotten along well with her."

"When you get her back, then I can meet her, right?"

Tayuya smiled at him. "Yeah. She'd probably really like that."

She sat there, thinking about what Naruto and Fu together would be like. Most likely a serious headache. Combining an easily excitable teenage boy with a chipper jinchūriki just spelled trouble. In all kinds of ways.

After a few minutes, Tayuya stood up from her place against the wall and walked back to the piles of stuff. "And now, we have to re-pack everything."

There were a bunch of those same white outfits Fu wore, plus a number of other clothes, and Tayuya put all of them to the side. They would get sealed in a specific scroll for the girl.

There were also three other sets of the carbon-weave armor that the girl had had, two of which (one long-limbed, the other short) were Tayuya's size, probably from when Fu was younger. The redhead hadn't been able to understand how Fu had been able to afford it, until she found the stash of money. There was _a lot_. Way more than she had ever seen in one place. She'd resolved not to touch it unless necessary, as even _if_ Fu had left it to her, she wouldn't feel comfortable using it except for emergencies.

There were a bunch of regular reading scrolls, the majority of which were on the two taijutsu styles that the jinchūriki had known. Tayuya had put those aside to be sealed in an easily accessible location, since she and Naruto would be using them.

Her swords and both of her flutes went into her hand.

All of Tayuya's clothes were divided into 'often worn' (t-shirts, cut-offs, shorts…) and 'rarely worn'(kimono, hakama..), and then sealed in a small scroll accordingly, each of which then went into a storage point in her carrying scroll. There was another scroll for ninja clothing, but it was almost empty other than the armor. Something she needed to rectify soon.

Miscellaneous things went into their own scroll, and that was then sealed into the primary one.

Naruto spoke up. "Why don't you put the scroll thing in your hand? Isn't it heavy?"

She'd thought about it. But it didn't feel right. She'd be okay doing that if she got in a fight, since she might need the extra freedom of motion. But the tube was the largest memento of Fu that she had. The thing that she had been tasked to look after. So she would carry it, just like Fu had.

"Because of what it means to me. It's too important for me to just seal it away."

"Oh." That seemed to satisfy him.

They sealed the last things in the scroll, and Tayuya rolled it up and put it in the tube.

"Thanks for the help, kid." She meant it, too.

He grinned. "M-hm!"

Maybe having someone like him around would be good for her too.

* * *

A woman sat on her throne, her fingers tapping rhythmically on its arm as the words she had heard echoed through her mind.

_United by the efforts of the second son,  
__Nine from Ten will return to One.  
__Creation's end will be heralded that dawn,  
__Unless One and Seven together are drawn.  
__Only then will it survive, the world of men,  
__With Nine and One to conquer the Ten.  
__But beware, should the One choose to cut short her Song,  
__All will be lost and forever gone__…_

* * *

**A/N:**

Slow chapter. But still important. Relationship building! Can't get to the fun stuff if your characters don't have established interactions with each other.

Yeah… Tayuya's got some serious bitterness towards the Akatsuki. Kisame and Itachi in particular.

I don't know if anybody knows this, but there are actually three months between the Sasuke Recovery Mission and when Naruto leaves Konoha [chapter 238 page 4 panel 5]. Weird, huh? Kishi's tiny time-skips seem to just fly over my head. Like the time between Wave and the Chūnin exams. I still don't know how long that is exactly. Not that I particularly care, since I haven't written any fics that cover that time, but still.

So. Unfortunately, I'm starting classes back up now. And for the next five weeks, I'm going to be taking a class called CompSci Theory. As you might guess from the name, it isn't going to be easy. The fact that it's also normally a 16-week course doesn't help either. At all. Basically, I'm going to be dying. I'll try and get a couple chapters pounded out before the work really crunches down (next week is the last of my current buffer), but if I don't update for a week or two? It's because I'm converting NFAs to DFAs, building grammars, and trying to figure out how the fuck the pumping lemma works.

But! Good news too. Next week: Everybody's favorite orange fuzz-ball makes his appearance! Oh boy!

* * *

**Translations:**

Uzumaki-ichizoku no Saigo no Hime (うずまき一族の 最後 の 姫) lit. The Last Princess of the Uzumaki Clan


	20. Tails

**Disclaimer:**

Did Naruto even _try_ to reach out to the fox before he absolutely had to? If not, I don't own _Naruto_, nor any of the associated universe.

* * *

**Chapter 20:**  
**Tails**

It was morning, and Tayuya was in the forest alone, trying to work out how to learn Lightning Release while Naruto was off with Jiraiya somewhere working on 'their thing' again. It wasn't like she cared that they were annoyingly secretive _despite_ the fact that they'd been together for over two weeks now. No. Not at all.

Whatever.

She'd been working on creating Lightning chakra, and the best exercise she'd come up to learn was holding her two hands apart, and trying to get a spark to arc across the gap, like lightning between the sky and the earth.

Not great, but she considered it passable enough for a training technique.

All chakra natures 'felt' different. Water was fluid and calm. Wind was sharp and cool. Ice was a balance of Water and Wind, and felt both freezing cold and smooth. Fire should be hot and volatile, at least she thought so, and Earth would be solid and rigid. Following that logic, Lightning should be… sparky.

You'd think that after spending so much time in the middle of thunderstorms and around lightning that this would be easy, but it wasn't going as smoothly as she expected. It had already been six days since she'd started, and had nothing to show for it. She'd expected it to be a little harder, since she didn't have an affinity with the element, but she thought that being so in-tune with her chakra would at least give her _some_ advantage.

Tayuya sighed, and focused on her hands again, willing each side to take a different charge while running chakra to them, and trying to force that sparky, shocking feeling.

The hairs on the backs of her hands started to rise.

_Yes! Come on. Come on…_

She grasped at the sensation and tried to amplify it, slowly moving her chakra's texture and vibration to match what she thought was right.

_Just… a little… more._

Tayuya moved her hands closer, barely. With a sharp, high-pitched 'pop', a blue spark jumped between her palms.

"HA! I got it! _Hell yes!_"

She allowed herself a few minutes to revel in the sense of achievement, repeating the electrical action in order to make sure she could replicate the process.

…until a wave of malignant energy rolled over Tayuya like a tsunami, drowning her in pressure and causing her to gasp from the sensation of not being able to breathe. It felt like hatred and tasted like blood, triggering her gag reflex on instinct.

After a few seconds, the sensation lessened, enough that she was able to regain control of her own mental faculties.

_What the fuck was that?_

It had come from the direction Naruto and Jiraiya had headed in. They should be fine, since Jiraiya was there and could probably handle anyone, but she was still worried about the blonde boy.

A loud boom, and then a shockwave rolled past her, the ground shaking. A large cloud of dust and dirt flew up above the trees, right over where they had been.

Tayuya got up and started running towards the source as the waves of energy continued to roll over her. Despite the anger and malice it contained, it felt almost… familiar. Like she'd felt it before. Tayuya ran through the thick woods, following the sensation as it got stronger and stronger until she arrived at the field where the pair had been working.

The sage stood off to her left, up against the treeline, panting, with a weird, long-ass orange toad floating next to him.

Clumps of dirt and rock were strewn everywhere, the landscape looking like someone had strewn explosive tags all over the place and then detonated them at once. And yet… it reminded Tayuya of when Fu had fought Kakuzu.

In the middle of it all stood a blood-red humanoid form with four tails swaying behind it.

The figure turned towards her and growled, the sound echoing through the clearing.

_OH SHIT._

It was in front of her before she had a chance to move.

The thing stood up on its rear legs and swiped at her chest, the claws slicing through her shirt, muscle, and collarbone like air until one of them touched her seal.

And then everything went black.

* * *

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip. Drop-Drip._

"What. The. Fuck."

Tayuya sat up from the stone floor and two inches water that she was laying in. Everything around her was dark, dim, except for the floor and the liquid.

One moment, she had been in a field with some sort of monster with four tails…

Oh. Gods. It was a jinchūriki.

Another fucking jinchūriki.

"**You dare show yourself here again?**" a loud voice rumbled through the air like thunder.

A giant orange muzzle appeared above her, its lips pulled back showing off glinting rows of huge triangular teeth. A single crimson eye with a vertical slit for a pupil glared at her and blinked.

"**You aren't the boy.**"

Tayuya scrambled to her feet and ran away from the orange monstrosity.

"**There isn't anywhere you can run to in **_**here**_**, ningen.**" A huge furred hand landed in front of her, splashing water, and rushed at her, grabbing her like an insect.

She struggled, fighting the uncomfortable pressure of the grip until she was brought nose to nose with the creature. Numerous orange tails lashed around in the background in agitation.

"Y-y-you're a bijū." And there was only one fox-like bijū. Tayuya gulped. "The K-Kyūbi. Kurama."

"**HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME?**" he yelled at her. The pressure on her torso increased, and then cut off.

Oh, good. It looked like her healing still worked here… wherever here was. That reassured her, and she gained back some of her confidence, calming down slightly.

"Chōmei." The hand brought her around to his right eye.

"**How do you know that bug?**" the fox growled out.

Tayuya looked him directly in the slit-like pupil. "His host. She's my best friend."

"**And where is this container now?**"

She was getting pissed off at his questions, despite knowing that the being in front of her was probably one of the few that could actually harm her. "She died. From having him ripped out of her into a giant wooden statue with nine eyes."

"**YOU LIE!**"

"WHY THE _FUCK_ WOULD I LIE ABOUT THAT!?" she yelled.

The giant fox glared at her, and she stared back at him, refusing to give him the satisfaction of looking away. "**WHEN?**"

"Eight months ago." she bit out sharply.

"Hey! What the hell did you do to me!?" Both she and the bijū turned to the voice.

A golden metal gate appeared in front of the orange tailed beast. On the other side stood Naruto. He glared at the fox, turning when he saw the raised hand on the fox's right. Upon seeing what it contained, his expression of annoyance became complete shock.

"Ta-Tayuya?" He appeared to be at just as much of a loss about this as she was.

"Uh. Hi?" She looked down at him from her position high above in the Kyūbi's grip.

"H-How are you in here!?"

She shrugged. "Fuck if I know. So you're this guy's host, huh?"

"…yes?" he said cautiously.

Tayuya rolled her eyes. Why did everyone around her seem to be related in some way? Fu and Naruto were both jinchūriki. She and Naruto were family. Fu had been killed by that organization, Akatsuki, who was hunting the bijū's hosts.

…which meant they'd be after Naruto. Oh. This was _perfect_. She didn't even need to go searching for them. _They'd come to her._

Naruto turned to Kurama. "Give her back, you dumb fox!" he demanded, probably trying to be intimidating, but it instead came out sounding like a petulant child.

"**No.**" The blonde boy spluttered. "**She and I have things to discuss. Now **_**leave**_**, boy**"

The golden prison bars disappeared with a bang, and Kurama's eye turned back to her.

"Mind putting me the fuck down? As much as I love the view of your giant red eyeball, I'd like to have my feet back on the damn floor if we're really going to talk."

Kurama growled, but complied and set her back down in the shallow water. She sat down, ignoring the sensation of the liquid, and looked up at him, watching.

The giant fox wasn't saying anything, so she started with the first thing that came to mind. "What's up between you and Naruto? You two not get along? You're supposed to help each other, right?"

"**Why would I help a worthless human? You are all the same.**"

Tayuya bristled. "… And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"**You all view us as animals, things to be tamed and used. I WILL NOT BE TAMED.**"

"…That isn't even close to true and you fucking know it."

"**WHAT!?**"

"We're not all the same. Just like you and Chōmei are obviously different. And Fu didn't see the bijū like that. Chōmei was her friend. They were partners."

"…"

A pregnant silence permeated the expanse, lasting for what seemed like hours until Tayuya finally breached it. "You know, I used to be a lot like you."

"**How could a human be anything like us?**"

"Not you collectively. _You_. I can just feel it. You hate everything. I hated the world. I didn't care about the people around me. I was arrogant and prideful, and refused to see anyone as my equal. And it was fucking _lonely_." she told him.

"**I have no need for companionship. I would rather kill you all. I have slaughtered thousands of your kind.**" he growled.

"Yeah, see, I don't get that. You attacked Konoha _once_. Nobody else before that. And none of the other bijū other than Shukaku, who's nuts according to Chōmei, have ever attacked anybody except in self-defense. You guys weren't even really known about until Madara used you in that huge fight with Hashira–" The Uchiha could control the Bijū. And the Kyūbi had never attacked anything before that or since then until Konoha. "You were being controlled again. When you attacked Konoha."

"**HOW DO YOU KNOW THESE THINGS!?**" Kurama's voice tore through the expanse and caused ripples to form on the shallow water's surface.

"It was just a fucking guess. But now you've confirmed it. We've got even more in common than I thought." Immortal. Controlled by madmen. Arrogant (in the past, in her case). This was absurd. She could relate to a fucking _tailed beast_.

"**How could you have anything in common with **_**ME**_**?**" he asked angrily.

"Both you and I were controlled by people against our will, doing things we didn't want. But when I got out of his grip, I decided to change. You haven't. You're just a ball of festering hatred. And by doing that, you're living up to everybody's expectations of you. _Encouraging_ the very judgment that you all are monsters by your own actions."

"…" He glared at her.

"What the fuck would you do if you were released right now? Would you rampage? Killing everyone around you? What would happen once you were tired? They'd just seal you up in someone else. And they'd hate you all the more. Is that what you _want_?"

"**I'm getting tired of your mindless ramblings, ningen.**"

"But you aren't saying they're not true." Tayuya countered.

"**LEAVE!**" he ordered.

"Fine. But this group is going to come after you and Naruto. I'm going to protect him, but we won't stand a chance unless he has your help. Or do you _want_ to be trapped in that giant statue?"

Kurama growled loudly, his lips pulling back to show his teeth. "**GO!**"

"Just think on that." Tayuya closed her eyes, and tried to search for some way out of this place. Some kind of exit. There was something, something in her mind, like the place she went to fall asleep. But different. She followed it, and sound rushed back to her ears.

Birds chirping, wind blowing through grass.

"Ughhh." Tayuya opened her eyes staring at a completely clear sky.

"Tayuya!" Naruto's face filled her field of vision as he tackled her, hugging her. "I thought he was going to hurt you!"

She sat up, and looked around. She was still in that same field. The one where she had gotten attacked. The one where _Naruto_ had attacked her. The blonde Uzumaki backed off, standing next to her.

Jiraiya sat off to the side on her right, looking at her in contemplation.

"What? Why the hell are you looking at me like that? What happened after I blacked out?"

The sage sighed. "I guess the fox's out of the bag. He lost all of the Kyūbi's chakra. It was sucked into that seal on your chest. Four tails. Gone. It's a good thing, too. I was having a lot of trouble trying to tighten his seal back up without killing him." Jiraiya said. "Both of you lost consciousness. The gaki woke up about half an hour ago, but you were out until now."

"Why didn't you say he was the jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Yōko?" she asked indignantly, more annoyed than hurt at the fact that they hadn't seen fit to share that important little tidbit. They were _family_ for fuck's sake.

"It wasn't up to me. It was up to him." Jiraiya told her, sounding like he hadn't thought it was a good decision either.

Tayuya turned to the boy in question. He shifted his weight between his feet nervously, staring at the ground. "I didn't want you to hate me." he whispered. "I understand if you don't want to be with me anymore."

"… Why the _fuck_ would I hate you?"

He looked up at her in surprise. "B-Because I have the nine-tails in me!"

"Yeah, so? And I'm not going anywhere. We're family, and you're stuck with me." Both Naruto and Jiraiya looked at her blankly. Ugh. Stupid people and their damn prejudices against things they didn't understand. It was like Fu all over again. "Sit down. We've got a bunch of shit to talk about."

He took a seat on the grass (the small patch still remaining in the decimated field) on her left.

"You remember Fu? The girl I told you about a while ago? The one who gave me the tube?" He nodded. "She was a jinchūriki too. She had the Nanabi no Kabutomushi sealed inside of her. But I was still her best friend, and I still loved her. I know better than you may think about what being a jinchūriki involves."

Naruto's jaw went slack.

"Hold up. Who's this Fu?" Jiraiya asked.

"She was a girl I met while I was in Takigakure. We became very close friends, and then… she died when Chōmei was extracted from her." Tayuya's heart twinged in pain at the memory of the mint-haired girl's final moments.

Jiraiya only appeared more confused. "Chōmei?"

"The Nanabi."

He stared at her in amazement. "They have names?"

Gods. No wonder Kurama was so pissed about everything if these were the people that surrounded him. "Of course they have fucking names! They're sentient! They're not dumb animals!" She looked at the blonde. "Haven't you ever talked to him?"

"Why would I talk to him!? He's just a stupid fox! And he killed my parents!" he said fiercely.

… _well shit. That's going to make this a fuck-ton harder._

"He's not a stupid fox. He's a sapient being, thousands of years old, who is now trapped and jailed with no way of escaping. How would _you_ feel about that? He's just… angry. Angry and lonely. And he wasn't even aware of what he was doing when he attacked Konoha. He was being controlled. So even _if_ he killed your parents, he didn't do it intentionally." she told him.

A growl reverberated through her mind. '**LIES! SHE LIES!**'

_What. The Fucking. Hell._

'_Kurama?_'

'**Ningen!?**' The fox actually sounded surprised.

Tayuya rubbed her temples to try and disperse the massive headache she was getting. This just kept getting better and better.

Jiraiya looked at her in confusion. "What's going on? Why are you doing that?"

"It seems." Tayuya sighed. "It _seems_ like I'm somehow connected to Naruto's seal. I'm still in contact with Kurama."

"What!?" Naruto yelled at the same time Jiraiya asked "Kurama?"

Kami this was getting on her nerves. "_Yes_. Kurama. The nine-tails. I already said they all had names."

"… oh." the sage said dumbly.

Tayuya focused on her chakra network, trying to detect any irregularities. There was nothing. Good. It looked like she had no connection with the bijū's chakra. Thank gods. She didn't know what she'd do if she became some kind of faux-jinchūriki, leeching off of Naruto's seal. Not that she even knew how the fuck that could even be possible.

"We can deal with this later. I don't have any of Kurama's chakra in my network, so he can't affect me and I can't affect the seal. We need to talk about what the hell's going on with the jinchūriki." she said.

Jiraiya eyed her. "… and _what_ exactly, is 'going on'?"

"The Akatsuki." Tayuya responded heatedly.

He immediately became serious. "You know about them?"

"Know about them? Orochimaru was _one_ of them, remember? And I personally _fought_ six of the bastards."

"I need to know everything you've got. Right now." he demanded, taking out a notebook.

This was going to be hard. She still couldn't think about them with a clear mind. "There's at least nine of them. They wear black cloaks with red clouds."

He nodded. "We know that. We had a run-in with Itachi Uchiha and Hoshigaki Kisame."

"Oh! Yeah! That fish guy!" Naruto quipped.

Her vision shot red, and she fought to keep her breathing steady and her emotions under control as the temperature in the immediate vicinity dropped to sub-zero levels against her will. Both Jiraiya and Naruto scooted away from her slightly so that they were out of the range of the major effects.

"They were two of them. _They_ were the ones who took her. They're going to be the first." she ground out.

"The first?" he asked, now almost six feet away.

"The first to _**die**_." Her voice was as cold as the air around her.

"Ah." Jiraiya was at a loss for a response, so he got back on topic. "We know quite a bit about them. But nothing about the others. Who else did you encounter?"

She tried to keep her mind away from the pair that made her so angry and move onto the rest. "Kakuzu. From Takigakure. He has five hearts, each with a separate elemental affinity. He uses high-class A and S rank ninjutsu from them. They can separate off of his body into these giant creatures made of black tendrils, and act independently of him. He's lethal at all ranges. Very strong taijutsu, and even worse at mid and long ranges with his techniques. Fu, who was _beyond_ a perfect jinchūriki, barely managed to take out two of his hearts alone. But that was mostly because of what we think his Earth technique was: a jutsu to make his skin as hard as diamond."

Jiraiya was writing down everything she said, the area around her slowly returning to normal as she distracted herself through talking.

"His partner is Hidan of Yugakure. An immortal who can heal, like me. But his healing isn't automatic, and he has to manually reattach severed body parts within a limited amount of time. His main form of killing involves drawing the blood of his opponents with a three-bladed scythe, and then enacting some kind of religious ritual which creates a sympathetic link between him and his opponent that he can use to kill them as a sacrifice to his god, 'Jashin'. Being understandably immune to piercing attacks, that's what he uses to harm himself once the ritual starts. I took him out by surprise. I could probably handle him again, since my techniques are well suited against his, but it'd be harder than last time."

"This is a _lot_ of information." the sage told her appreciatively.

"Yeah well. It's what happens when you're fighting for your life against fucking S-ranks. You tend to remember shit like this." she rationalized. "The last ones I didn't exactly fight with. I don't know their names. One was a woman, with blue hair, orange eyes. She had a blue flower in her hair, and used some kind of clone technique made out of squares of paper. I shredded that up like it was nothing." Tayuya smirked viciously as she remembered the surprised expression the woman had had when she had destroyed it. Any person who used paper would be quick work against someone with a Wind nature who could control it like she could.

The pen in Jiraiya's hand stilled. "…Konan."

She looked at him. "What?"

"Nothing …I hope." he said softly. "Who was the last person?"

"It was a group of them. These three assholes with orange hair and black piercings all over their faces. One of them sucked out your chakra, and another had this attack that felt like it manipulated your weight. That one called himself 'Pain'."

"Their eyes. Did any of them have purple eyes?" his voice contained a taint of fear and dread.

_What the fuck scares a Sannin?_

"Yeah. They all did. With these rings. It was fucking weird. And they glowed." she told him.

"The Rinnegan." he whispered. "Oh, Nagato. What are you _doing_?"

"…what?" What was he talking about?

"Nagato. And Konan. They…" He sighed. "They were my students. Along with another boy, Yahiko."

"_What!?_"

"It was during the Second Shinobi World War. They were just kids, orphans in Rain Country. They asked me, Tsuna, and Orochi to teach them how to fight to protect themselves. I stayed behind to teach them." He looked haggard and worn, nothing like what she had seen of him so far. "Konan was such a sweet girl. She developed an entire branch of ninjutsu based around origami and paper. And Nagato had the Rinnegan. A dōjutsu that hasn't been seen since the Rikudō Sennin. It let him master any ninjutsu technique I taught him. His full name…" he looked between both Naruto and Tayuya, and then down at his notebook. "His name is Nagato Uzumaki."

_Shit._

That's why that asshole had been so surprised. Why he had given her that 'gift'. They were fucking _related_.

Tayuya's emotions were torn. Ripped apart. Shredded. She hated that man. Hated him with every fiber of her being. Hated him because he had caused the death of the one person who she cared about above all else. He was family, but she would rather kill him than ever accept him in any way.

"I thought they were dead. I haven't been able to find any trace of them. It's why I didn't mention him yesterday." The sage looked at the blue sky, and then back down at them, staring the two Uzumakis in the eyes.

Naruto looked adrift. "S-so, what're we going to do?"

"…" The Sannin sat for a minute, thinking. "They're my responsibility since they were my students. But it would be suicide to try and confront someone with the Rinnegan without being prepared. Especially if he's learned more about it like what you're saying."

"It doesn't help that he's fucking crazy." Tayuya interjected.

Jiraiya turned to her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I _mean_ he's nuts. Amoral. Psychopathic. Use whatever fucking term you want. He killed my best friend right in front of me in the name of 'global peace' and then told me he was God before letting me go. I'm pretty sure that's just about as textbook-definition insane as you can get." The sage stared at her, horrified.

A heavy silence descended on them, even Naruto unwilling to break it, until Jiraiya spoke up.

"This just became a _lot_ more dangerous. From here on out, no joking around. We have two years to try and get you beyond S-rank if possible. The next twenty-four months are going to be hell. For both of you, assuming that you're going to be sticking around?" he asked Tayuya.

"I already said I'm not going anywhere. I have a score to settle with them." she said coldly. "And I'm _not_ leaving Naruto to deal with them alone." He was family. Her decision was further solidified because she _knew_ Fu would want her to do this. To protect him because he was like her, another jinchūriki, one of only seven left. To try and help Kurama and the blonde get along. To reach out to the fox who seemed so angry and find out why.

He nodded. "Good. Let's lay out a plan then. Gaki." Naruto perked up. "You've mastered shape manipulation, but you still need to learn nature transformation." Jiraiya reached into his pocket and drew out a square of paper, handing it to Naruto. "Channel some chakra into this."

The boy did, and the piece split cleanly down the middle. "Wind. So you'll teach him, okay Hime?" She nodded in response.

"You two will work on taijutsu and nature transformation together. I'll help out when I can. And this is where the hell begins. I never planned on telling you this unless you figured it out yourself, but at this point we'll need everything we can get." Naruto looked at the sage, not understanding what he was talking about. "Shadow clones aren't just facsimiles made of chakra that can act independently. They return information to the original when they're dispelled."

Tayuya understood what he was implying immediately. "They transfer _all_ of the accumulated memories back? And those memories are treated like they're your own?" Jiraiya nodded.

_Fucking hell._ If Kidōmaru were here, he'd call that a hack. An outright, blatant cheat in the game known as 'ninja'.

It wasn't even funny. Memory was everything. Even muscle memory. The term 'muscle memory' was a complete misnomer. It was just regular memory that acted as a cache of frequently-accessed movements. Meaning even _years_ of taijutsu could be learned in days with a large enough number of clones. It wouldn't give you the actual muscle mass for strength or speed, but with two years to work on it, they could do that too. Not that she even knew if she _could_ get stronger with her frozen-in-time body.

But something like this was exactly what she needed in order to get herself to where she could fight those Akatsuki bastards on equal ground.

"Wait… what does all that mean?" Naruto asked.

"It means that everything your clones learn, you learn. So if you have 20 clones learning something in one hour, you effectively get 20 hours worth of experience." Tayuya simplified. The boy's eyes widened in amazement. "But there _has_ to be some sort of drawback. A technique like that is too good to be true." She looked at Jiraiya for some kind of explanation.

He didn't disappoint. "There are. For one, it can only be used by people with a massive amount of chakra. Like the gaki. And two, your brain can't process the memories if they come in too quickly. If too many of the clones disperse at once, you could end up with a brain hemorrhage and seizures, and at worst, you could die. Headaches are going to be happening no matter what for the first few months. But the trade-offs are too great not to use it." he told her. "He already knows how to make Shadow Clones. But if you're going to be working with him, you'll need to know how to do it too. How many do you think you could make at once? Three? Four? We'll probably have to split them up in some kind of ratio like two hundred of his clones to one of yours since he can make a huge number of them."

"How much chakra would it take to collapse a mile-wide five-anchor barrier by channeling chakra into only one of the seals?" she asked him. That was the best she could do right now for an estimate.

He stared at her. "…A lot. Way more than I've got. So we'll try to get at least a five-to-one ratio between you guys. Maybe even lower. He and I will keep working on using the Kyūbi's chakra–"

"No." she stated adamantly. "Don't even think about it unless Kurama agrees to actually work with him. It's his chakra, and stealing it is the worst thing you could be doing right now. If the two of them don't work together, it's like pouring acid through your pathways."

"Well then what are we supposed to do!?" the sage asked, frustrated. "That was the whole point of this trip!"

"I don't know. But that isn't the way to win him over." she told him. "The best thing would be to have them talk."

"**I'll never submit myself to you humans.**" the fox rumbled in her mind.

'_Oh shut __**up**__ you over-sized orange furball. I'm on your side. I'm trying to help you out here._' she snapped.

'**I don't need to be defended by a puny ningen!**'

Tayuya ignored him. "Anyways. We have more than enough shit to work on. If we finish the things we've got, we'll find more. We're going to be learning sealing, and I've been teaching the kid some plain old theory and basic stuff. And you're working on my seal, right?" Jiraiya nodded slowly. "We _need_ to find out what it's doing. It's acting weirder and weirder. Absorbing bijū chakra and linked seals are only the latest things."

The sage nodded in agreement. "Gaki, can you teach her the Kage Bunshin?"

The blonde's eyes were slightly glazed over but came back into focus. "Huh? Wha? Oh. Kage Bunshin. Yeah."

He turned to her. "The hand seal's like this." Naruto crossed his fingers. "And then, um. You just channel chakra?"

… Seriously. One hand seal? That was it?

"Alright, try it." Jiraiya told her.

Well, here goes nothing.

Tayuya put her hands in the seal and pulled a little bit of chakra from her core. A loud poof! went off next to her, and she looked to the side. A perfect copy of herself stared back, sitting in the same way she was.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" it asked her.

Kami. It looked like they just as bad an attitude towards her as she did to everybody else. Must be karma.

She punched the clone in the arm hard enough to make it burst into a cloud of smoke, dispelling it by force.

"Looks like you can do it. But you have to be careful since your chakra is divided equally between the number of clones you create." the sage explained.

She shook her head. "I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Undead chakra battery, remember?"

"…Right. Okay. Let's eat lunch, and then we can get started."

* * *

_drip_

Tayuya stepped through the clear, shallow water in the direction she felt the angry chakra coming from.

The past month had been crazy, and she partly wondered how she was even keeping up with it. It should almost be giving her emotional whiplash. Maybe because she had no choice? Because this gave meaning to her otherwise lonely, empty existence? Because the things she was doing could make her strong enough to fight the Akatsuki, and potentially help her in her wish to bring Fu back?

It was probably all of them.

An orange face appeared in front of her, growling, its eyes squinting in anger.

"**WHY ARE YOU HERE, NINGEN!?**" Kurama yelled.

"Because I don't need to sleep, and I figure talking with you is more entertaining than sleeping anyways."

"**I'LL KILL YOU FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!**"

"Do it." she dared him.

A giant fist descended on her, and everything went black.

* * *

She opened her eyes and stared at the giant orange fox above her.

"Does doing that make you feel better?" she asked, honestly curious.

"… **HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?**"

"I'm like you. I said that." she told him, laying on her back in the water. "I meant it in more ways than one. I can't die even if I wanted to."

"**LEAVE!**" he bellowed.

"No." she said calmly. "Just because you don't want to hear it, doesn't mean it isn't true. Just because you don't want to admit I'm like you, doesn't mean I'm not."

"**YOU COULD NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS LIKE!**"

"Never understand what it's like to what? What it's like to be alone? To have people hate you? The raw anger you experience after being controlled against your will? I know it all. _Kurama_."

"**WHY DO YOU INSIST ON USING THAT NAME?**"

"It is your fucking name, isn't it? Why wouldn't I use it? Calling you 'Kyūbi' all the time is just boring. And it's like a title. Like how the perverted sage is calling me 'Hime'. It may be true, but it's not my name." she said. "A name is an identity. A title is just a moniker. It isn't who you are. But a name is."

He stared at her, and she would have sworn it felt like he was stunned by her words.

"…**You're the first to use it in millenia.**"

"The Sage gave you all names, didn't he? He named you all himself. Aren't you proud of that? You're practically his real children."

His snout lowered until his nose was just inches away, hot air emitted in puffs right in her face, and a low growl emanated from his throat. "**Don't act like you know about my father, **_**girl**_**. It will be the last thing you do before I swallow you whole.**"

… At which point she could just leave, and then come back. This was a mindscape, after all. But she'd also gotten him to call her something other than 'ningen', which she counted as a success.

She brushed him off. "Yeah, okay. If you don't want me to get anything wrong, then why don't you tell me about him yourself, huh? After all, there's this asshole with his eyes we're going to be up against, right? Don't you want to see him gone?"

A noise that shook the floor ripped through the space, and a giant fist landed only feet from her right. "**THAT MAN IS PERVERTING THE VERY MEMORY OF MY FATHER WITH HIS ACTIONS. I'LL TEAR HIS INTESTINES FROM HIS STILL-BREATHING BODY.**" he roared at her.

Whoa. _Someone's got a serious daddy complex._

"How?"

"**WHAT!?**"

"I said, 'How?' How are you going to do that? You can't escape the seal, and if you do, he'll just capture you, and then you'll get sealed in that statue. So how the fuck are you going to do that?"

Kurama growled and shook his head in rage, a hundred feet above her.

"You know it, just like I do. You just don't want to admit it. The only chance you have of ever even coming _close_ to being able to fight him, is with Naruto. Working with him. Why can't you see that?"

"**WHY SHOULD I STOOP SO LOW AS TO WORK WITH A BOY WHO CAN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND!?**"

"What, as opposed to me? Are you actually _admitting_ that I'm able to empathize with you?" she asked in disbelief.

"…" The fox refused to respond.

"He's a fourteen-year-old boy for fuck's sake! Cut him some slack. Just because he doesn't understand you right now, doesn't mean he can't learn. He's a jinchūriki, isn't he? Was the village aware that he was one? Probably, right? So he definitely understands the loneliness. The feeling of being hated by everyone. But unlike _you_, he's the kind of kid to get up every morning and fight that. It's just who he is. So why the fuck do you hate him so much?"

Kurama was silent.

"You don't, do you?"

"**I DO! I HATE HIM!**" the fox yelled.

"_Why_!?"

He didn't answer.

Tayuya covered her face in her hands. "ARGGHHH. You are so frustrating! I'm just trying to fucking understand!"

"_**Why?**_" he asked, turning her question back on her.

Tayuya moved her hands and looked at the giant face above her. "Because Fu would have wanted me to! And you remind me of myself, okay!? I already said I was like you before! But now I'm not. I'm able to be happy. To enjoy myself. To make friends." _To fall in love._ "But you!" She pointed up at him. "You're just fucking stagnant! You refuse to even _consider_ that you could be happy. And because of that, you're going to _stay_ angry. Hating everything. You're condemning yourself to your own sad existence! Do you _enjoy_ the way you are right now!?"

He just stared down at her.

"Fuck it. Fine. I'm done for tonight. Goodnight Kurama." She blinked out of the mindscape, leaving the orange bijū alone again in the darkness.

He stretched out, his tails lying down, resting his head on the backs of his wrists and staring at the place the girl had been.

* * *

Tayuya sat up. She needed some fresh air. Talking to Kurama was like wrestling with a bear. Or arguing with child. Or both at once.

She got out from under the covers of her futon and walked to the entrance of their room in the semi-darkness that was lit only the silver light of the moon streaming through the two windows. She opened the door quietly, and slipped out, closing it behind her.

Jiraiya sat on the ledge in front of her, staring up at the sky, his left knee up with his arm resting on it.

"You know, for some reason, I kind of expected to see you out here." she commented, moving to the cement barrier and hopping over it to join him.

He gave no indication of having heard her.

"What's chewing at you?" Fucking hell. She really _had_ changed if she went out of her way to both argue with a bijū and act as counselor for a Sannin.

"… Where did I go wrong?" he whispered.

She stayed silent, and waited to see if he would say anything more.

"They were such innocent kids. Especially Nagato. He was so sensitive. He cried for days the first time he killed someone, and it had only been an accident to protect his friends. I always thought he was too soft to be a ninja. He got better as he got older, but he was always aware of the feelings of people around him." He sighed. "Why? What would make them do this? Why are they doing this?"

Shit. This had hit him a lot harder than he had let on before.

She had no immediate response, and didn't trust herself to be able to talk about them without succumbing to the raw fury that lurked in the back of her mind, so she kept quiet.

They must have sat there for half an hour before the man beside her spoke up again.

"You know, Hime, I'm really glad you showed up. Despite all the things you've done. I know that nothing would've changed if it had been someone else in that barrier, and I think Naruto does too." the sage turned to look at her, and she was taken aback at the sadness on his face. "He needs someone. Someone he can call family. With his parents gone…" he trailed off, and turned back to the sky.

"I know who his father is." she said. It was the only thing that made sense. The Kyūbi sealed in a blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy, when the man who had done it looked almost identical. Son of the Fourth Hokage. His parents' wishes made sense now. Iwa would have tried to kill him faster than you could say 'Yellow Flash'.

Jiraiya chuckled softly. "Heh. I figured you would. You're a sharp girl, and it's pretty obvious once you get all the facts."

"He wasn't treated very well, was he? The villagers only see him as the fox. They refuse to see the boy because they believe so strongly in the opposite. It was the same with Fu in Taki."

"Yeah… And I share the guilt for that." he said sadly. "I'm his godfather, but I was never around to look out for him. My work for Konoha keeps me away almost all of the time. I told Minato that I wasn't the best choice, but he refused to listen…" He laughed suddenly. "What am I doing, telling all of this depressing stuff to a kid like you?"

Tayuya slightly resented that, because she didn't consider herself a 'kid' by any standard after all of the shit she'd been through, but in comparison to a Sannin more than twice her age, she probably seemed like a kid to him.

"I hope you're planning on going back to Konoha with him. He'll be heartbroken if you don't." he told her, his voice carrying the gravity that he felt about the situation.

Konoha. They would _not_ be happy about her being there. But…

"Like I said earlier today, he's family, and he's stuck with me. He's the only family I've got other than my grandfather. There's no chance of me letting that go easily. But it'd be nice if you told them I wasn't a prisoner, so I don't have your T&amp;I jumping down my throat at first sight. I already know Orochimaru's going to be out for my blood once he finds out, but I'll deal with that as it comes."

"Well, with that map you gave us, we've already started putting a large dent in his operations. He'll probably be more focused on that than on you." Jiraiya said knowingly.

Tayuya shook her head. "No. You don't understand. He doesn't let _anyone_ go. _Ever._ The second he hears I'm alive, there's going to be a giant fucking bounty on my head. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he or Kabuto decide to try and kill me themselves. I know I can't die, but it's still going to be as annoying as hell dealing with all of them."

He was quiet for a minute. "What about a false identity? Something to make it so nobody recognized you, like a mask and a change in mannerisms? We could play it off as you being a returning deep-cover agent, and you need the anonymity to protect you from the people you had been under cover with. It's half the truth, anyways."

She hadn't thought of something like that. Pretty thoughtless, considering that she had _worked_ in a mask shop for two and a half months.

And something like that would protect her. A lot. It would also keep Naruto from harm, as the cunt wouldn't hesitate to try and get to her through him, even killing the blonde if need be. This was no longer just about her. She couldn't be selfish anymore. She had to think about everyone that her actions would affect. And that only led her to one conclusion.

There wasn't even a choice.

"I think we'll have to do that. It might even be better if I started using a disguise sooner than Konoha, like on this trip, so nobody recognizes me with you. I'm not just looking out for myself anymore, right?"

He smiled proudly "That's right, Hime. And besides, Konoha ANBU are raiding all of his hideouts. There's a chance they might get him."

Tayuya laughed. "That's a joke, right? Do you even know what he is now?" Jiraiya's brow wrinkled in confusion. "He's a giant snake. _Literally._ He can jump bodies at will, and his entire body is composed of smaller snakes that he can use to escape. He may not be truly immortal, but he's pretty fucking close with the method he's got. That, combined with his techniques are going to make it hard for anybody but you, Tsunade, or a Kage to take him down. Unless you can _really_ get him by surprise. His arms are still shot, from what I know."

The sage was pensive. "I'll have to think about it, but there has to be some way to take him down permanently. Even if both Tsunade and I have to be there. The only reason I wasn't able to get him last time was because of Hime's poison."

"Well… alright. You're the super-experienced Sannin, not me." she said.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess I am."

They fell into silence, staring up at the stars of the night sky.

* * *

"Fūinjutsu is an art."

Jiraiya sat in front of the two Uzumaki as hundreds of blonde and redheaded clones around them went through the motions of katas.

_Fu would have killed to know she could have been learning taijutsu like this._

"But it's a delicate, dangerous art." he said to them. "As you've already learned, Hime. We won't even _touch_ chakra-reactive ink for five or six months. It's just too dangerous. You'll both be using clones to practice calligraphy, which is normally the first two or three years of learning. With you two personally, I'll be going over the basics of the theory behind it all. What characters mean. How they fit together. Seal balancing. I'm not going to lie to you: this is going to be boring. But if you really want to learn sealing, you're going to _need_ to pay attention like your life depends on it. Because if you don't, you're signing your own death sentence. We'll start with this…"

* * *

The pair of Uzumakis sat in the room at the inn across from each other. It was about seven in the evening, and Jiraiya had already gone out 'information gathering'. She knew he actually meant it, with how serious he had been lately.

"Okay, kid. Since we're finally buckling down and getting serious, I need to get a good idea of what I'm working with before we start tomorrow. So lay it out. What have you learned besides the basics?" she asked.

The blonde was thoughtful. "Um… Shadow clones, tree climbing, water walking, summoning, and my Rasengan." he told her.

… That was it? He'd really only named two usable techniques of his own. And the only offensive technique was that 'Rasengan'. She had only really had her flute, but she also knew dozens of genjutsu.

How the fuck had he managed to survive fighting Kimimaro?

"How's your aim with kunai and shuriken?"

He avoided her eyes and didn't respond. So not great. Well, at least that was something they could work on.

"If you had to prioritize what you learned between genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, how would you order them?"

He was silent for a minute in concentration, and then looked up to answer her. "Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu."

"Alright. So we'll focus primarily on your chakra manipulation and hand-to-hand. And Jiraiya's teaching us sealing and will be sparring with us when he's got time. We should be pretty busy with this. Anything else you wanted to go over?"

The boy started fidgeting. "A-ano… um… can, can you tell me more about Fu-san?" That wasn't exactly on-topic, but his curiosity had probably been eating away at him for a while, and this was the first chance he'd really gotten to talk to her without either being dead tired and falling asleep, or having Jiraiya around.

Tayuya let out a heavy breath, and moved over to the wall by her futon so she was leaning against it, pulling her hair around so it wouldn't be pinched. "Yeah. I guess so. I should have known you'd ask about her, since you're both jinchūriki. Or she was, at least." She drew her legs up and looked at him, resting her wrists on her knees. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning? When did it happen?" he asked. "I… I just want to know if we're all the same."

Tayuya sighed. "Chōmei was sealed in her when she was six. She had reacted extremely well to his chakra, which is why they were willing to select her from a civilian family. She went through the sealing, and her hair and eyes changed colors because of it. Her parents were complete assholes about it. They believed that Chōmei was a demon, had taken over her body, and was out to kill them all. It didn't help that the first week she was his host, she got in a fight with another kid and punched him hard enough that she snapped his neck like a toothpick."

The blood drained from Naruto's face.

"That was just about my reaction, too. Her parents disowned her because of that, and she started ninja training without a choice. From the stories she told me, it was at least ANBU level. And she did it for four years." It still made Tayuya feel outclassed. Fu had been S-rank at the same time Tayuya had been a genin with Orochimaru. "She had no one to talk to except Chōmei, so that's what she did. She talked to him. A lot. And they got really close because of it. Fu was the perfect jinchūriki. Except Taki didn't appreciate her. You weren't treated very well in Konoha, right?"

He looked away. "… yeah. All the dumb villagers just saw me as the fox. I didn't know why, cause I didn't even know about it until two years ago! The Hokage made this rule that nobody could talk about it. But… it didn't help."

"Because prejudice is a group action, and children follow their parents' examples." she guessed. Naruto nodded. "Well, Fu was similar. Except she didn't ever get any friends like you did, because there was no law for her. Everybody knew what she was, and it was only made worse because her own parents reinforced the villagers' fears. It was psychological abuse. Even if she never said it using those words, it's what it was. The way I met her was dragging her out of an alleyway because two drunks were shouting at her and then one of them hit her, and I couldn't stand watching." Naruto looked about ready to cry.

"That's like Gaara." he whispered.

"Gaara?"

"Gaara's one of my friends from Suna. He's Temari and Kankurō's brother …and he's one of us too." he told her softly.

"He's got Shukaku? Fuck, he must be a piece of work. Shukaku's nuts from what Fu told me."

Naruto shook his head. "Gaara was just lonely. Nobody wanted to be his friend. He was really scary, but now he's nice. I was his first friend." he said, smiling at her.

Yeah, she could totally see that happening.

"Fu managed to make one friend, and I think that's what kept her from going crazy. Sado acted like an older brother for her. But he wasn't her age, he was about fifteen years older. I was her first friend around her age. So I guess we've got that in common too, huh? Me with Fu and you with this Gaara kid."

The blonde nodded silently.

"I invited her over for dinner. I don't know why. But I had fun, and I asked her if she'd help me with my taijutsu, cause mine's shit and she looked like a taijutsu specialist. She let me join her the next morning, and… let's just say she tore me to bits and leave it at that." Tayuya smiled at the memory. "We started hanging out a lot after that. We'd train in the morning, before I had to go to work, and then we'd eat lunch together. She liked my cooking enough that I ended up making bentōs for both of us every day, but I didn't mind.

"I didn't know that she was a jinchūriki until about a month and a half after meeting her. I couldn't have cared less by then." She laughed. "And then everything was great. We were happy, and we kept training and eating lunches, and then even dinners too. We spent a lot of time together. That's how I learned so much about the bijū. Chōmei started telling her things about them that she'd never known about before, and she told them to me because of how amazing she thought it all was. It's the only reason I know about them."

Tayuya looked him. "Kurama's honestly not a dumb fox. He's just… angry and lonely. Humans haven't been very nice to any of the bijū, but him especially."

The boy sat still. "I-it's hard. Trying not to be mad at him. Cause he killed all of these people that I know about. And my parents."

"No." He looked up at her. "He isn't the one who killed them. The man who was controlling him is the one who killed them. Kurama was just used as a weapon. A means to an end."

_And I know exactly what that feels like._

He nodded slowly. "I… I think I know that. My feelings just have to catch up."

Tayuya smiled to herself, glad she'd been able to sway his opinion.

_Now if I could just make some fucking progress with the other one._

* * *

"Are you going to be an ass if I talk to you tonight or not?" she asked, looking up at the upside-down image of a giant fox that towered over her.

He growled.

"I'll take that as a 'No' until further notice." Tayuya told him from her position in the water, her hair splayed out and floating around her like a fan. She'd been coming here every night, just laying in the water until morning came, but they hadn't had a serious conversation since that first day, Kurama enduring her presence in inscrutable silence until she inevitably told him 'Goodnight' and left. "Do you want to hear what we've been doing?"

The fox ignored her, and settled down next to her with his head on his arms, staring at her with his left eye.

"Fūinjutsu. And this time I'm learning it from an actual master instead of trying to teach myself." She sighed. "I wish I hadn't done that. I do. I wish I could remember my mother and father, and that _he_ was the one teaching me all of this, like it should have been. But I also don't want my life to have gone any other way than it has, despite all of the fucking weirdness that's happened in the last year."

"**You can't remember your father?**" Huh. So that was what it took for him to finally respond?

"No. I can't. I blew up our house in a sealing accident, and he sacrificed his life to save me. I lost all my memories in the process. I can't remember anything about him, or my mother. He's probably the best sealing master to have ever existed. To ever exist." She turned her head slightly to the right so she was looking at him. "I bet he could have even found a way to get your brothers out of that giant statue."

Tayuya just lay there, stuck in her memories until she remembered what she had been talking about.

"What the fuck is that thing, anyways? That statue."

"…**It is the husk.**"

"The husk? The husk of what?"

Kurama growled. "**The Jūbi**"

"A _ten-tails_!? What the fuck?" That was ridiculous. And it was the source of all of the other tailed beasts? "Is _that_ what they're trying to do? Bring it back by putting all of you guys in that statue, reversing what your father did?"

"**YES.**" he roared.

"Why? That makes no sense! What the hell would that even accomplish!?"

"**How should I know why humans do the idiotic things they do?**" Good point. Her own faith in humanity had a taken pretty deep nosedive after seeing the treatment that Fu went through.

"What is it like? Is it like you guys?"

He huffed, the air puffing out of his nostrils.

"**It is hatred incarnate. I hate humans on principle, but it is hate itself. It isn't conscious. It can't be reasoned with. My father was only able to stop it and seal it away with the assistance of his brother. If it's resurrected, it will destroy everything.**"

"… Well fuck." Tayuya turned to look at the ceiling. "This just got a whole lot worse. And I thought some guy with the Sage's eyeballs was bad."

Kurama rumbled in anger at the mention of that man.

"And you're okay with that? You're okay with just giving up? Becoming part of some mindless beast? Effectively dying? That sounds to me like suicide through inaction. You're going to let these _humans_ do that to you without fighting back?"

The fox was on top of her in an instant, a hand pinning her to the ground, his head only feet away. "**KNOW YOUR PLACE, GIRL!**

"Hey. I'm just telling you what I'm seeing. Because that's what it looks like to me. So if it's not true, how about you tell me what the fuck's _actually_ going on?"

"…" He glared at her, his eyes bloodshot. She stared back, unflinching.

"You could be helping us, getting ready to fight these assholes while we've still got the time. But instead, you sit in here all day, doing nothing. When they come to get you, what are you going to do? Are you going to help us fight them? Or are you going to sit here like you are now?"

"**I AM THE KYŪBI NO YŌKO. I WILL BEND TO NO HUMAN'S WILL!**"

Dear Kami.

"You're like a fucking broken record. It's not 'bending to a human's will' if you decide to do it yourself, you idiot. The whole point of being partners that you two are equal." Ahhhh. "But that's the problem isn't it? You refuse to acknowledge that a human could ever be equal to you. That a human is worth your time. So then why the fuck are you talking to me?"

"**You aren't them. You have more in common with **_**us**_** than them. You may have once been, but you aren't human, girl.**"

"…. yeah. I know." she said softly. "I'm learning that more and more every day."

She looked at him.

"But we all have the same feelings right? Humans, and bijū, and… whatever I am. We all have the capacity for both hatred and love. So how is it that we're all so different? Why aren't we equal? What makes them so different that you're unwilling to admit that?"

He refused to respond.

It looked like it was time to leave. She was getting tired of this too.

Tayuya sighed. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow night. Goodnight Kurama." She exited the mindscape back to reality.

The giant fox closed its eyes. "**Goodnight, girl.**"

* * *

It was lunch time, and they sat around in a circle eating the corner-store lunches that Jiraiya had gotten them.

"So I found something out about our favorite group of assholes." she told him. "I know what they're trying to do."

"What?" he asked in shock. "What is it?"

"They're resurrecting the ten-tails by collecting all of the bijū into its physical body. And unlike the tailed beasts, it is _not_ something you can just talk to. Kurama described it as 'hatred incarnate' and said that it would destroy everything if it came back."

"Can we really trust him?" he asked skeptically.

Oh fucking _hell_. "I'm pretty fucking sure we can trust him on this, since he'd be effectively dead if it happens from what I understand."

Jiraiya dragged a palm down his face and sighed. "Okay. I'll pass that on to Tsunade. She'll be able to get it to the other Kages. After that it's out of our hands. They're responsible for the safety of their jinchūriki. We just have to make sure they don't get Naruto."

"Over my dead body." she ground out between clenched teeth.

"Don't worry, Hime, I feel the same way." he assured her. "This doesn't really change anything, but at least now we know what their objective is."

They nodded in agreement.

"Good. Let's get back to work then."

* * *

"Okay. So. Learning nature transformation is all about the feeling of the chakra. Wind is one of the more offensive of the basic natures, as all it's really good at is cutting. Using wind chakra is like… it's like sharpening a blade with a waterstone to make it sharper. The simplest thing you can do is this." Tayuya held up a leaf. "You cut it between your palms, right in half." She demonstrated, showing Naruto the resultant perfectly bisected leaf. "It should feel like dragging two pieces of sandpaper against each other, straight down the middle. Grinding wind chakra against itself. You get it?"

He nodded. "Yeah!"

"Alright then. Let's see you do it."

* * *

It was night again, which meant another visit to the giant orange fox, visits that had become a daily routine, although there had only been two instances so far of them having actual conversations.

"Today was nature transformation. I'm teaching him Wind, while I work on Lightning. I can't do much yet, but I'm getting there. You wanna see?"

He was silent.

Tayuya held her fingers above her and made a spark jump between them with a loud crack.

"I think that's so fucking cool. Hey, each of you guys has a 'thing' right? Chōmei gave Fu her wind nature and this ridiculous strength. She probably could've gone toe-to-toe with Tsunade. Fucking hell, if she had ever learned how Tsunade _actually_ is able to do that strength thing, she'd probably be the strongest person in the world. Your thing is… healing?"

"…**Yes. And the ability to sense negative emotions. But the healing is derived from my chakra, so I have no control over the boy's ability to utilize it.**"

"Just how much chakra do you have?"

His eye turned to her. "**You should be able to feel it, if you're anything like us.**"

Tayuya tried to get a sense of the power of the bijū next to her. She could only really feel Yin chakra, but that should still let her know what half of it was like.

"You don't have any Yin!" That shouldn't even be _possible_.

Kurama growled at the reminder. "**It was stolen.**"

"_Stolen_? How the fuck can someone steal the Yin chakra from a bijū!? Isn't chakra your _body_? That'd be like trying to rip someone in half!"

"**It was.**" he rumbled.

Holy shit, that must have been painful.

"…So, what? You're like some weird Yang-half of the total Kurama, and yet still Kurama?" She thought about it. "It's like shadow clones, isn't it? Because your body's chakra in the first place. So dividing it in half just separates it in two, and when you join back up, you'll be the sum of the parts. But now, you're just half of the whole?"

"**Yes. But even like this, I'm still the strongest.**"

And he was this size with only half of his body mass? "Fuck, you must be _huge_ normally. So where's your other half? The Yin half?"

"**Sealed into the stomach of that thrice-damned shinigami creature.**" he said bitterly.

"Is there any way we can get him out?"

Kurama blinked in surprise. "**Get him… out?**"

"That's what I said. How can we get your other half out of that thing." and then she remembered what else was in there. "Preferably _without_ releasing Orochimaru's fucking arms." It was better for everyone if they stayed right where they were.

"**I wouldn't know.**" His eye closed.

"Let's say I found a way. To get him out. What would you do? He'd have to go somewhere to keep him from getting captured by the Akatsuki. And I don't think it'd be a good idea for me to add a seal to my body when we've got no idea what this fucker's doing."

"**I would want it back.**"

"Yeah, I figured. Even if you were still in here?"

"… **yes.**"

"If I did that, would you still try to escape the seal?"

The silence was deafening.

"Would you work with Naruto?"

He refused to answer.

She sat up and looked at him. "Damn it, Kurama! We aren't going to be able to deal with these bastards on our own! We're a C-rank genin, a B _maybe_ A-rank jōnin, and a SS-rank Sannin. That's not exactly a great line-up against a group of 9 S-ranks who've probably got three or more SSS-ranks! I'm getting stronger, but Jiraiya and I can't always be around to protect you!"

The fox was momentarily stunned. "**…protect… me?**"

"_Yes_. Naruto wouldn't even be in this mess if he didn't have you. And if you got out, or we tried to transfer you, or something, every country that borders Fire would know exactly where we are and where _you_ are."

"**Girl, you wouldn't even be talking to me if not for the b–**"

The water around Tayuya exploded, and Kurama jumped to his feet, startled, with his hackles raised.

"Don't. Even. _**Think.**_ Of finishing that fucking sentence."

A thirty foot circle of ice radiated out from where she sat. Icicles surrounded her, spears pointing off in every direction. Blue-white plasma arced and crackled between the protrusions, lighting the room at odd angles.

"I am _not_ doing this for Naruto. I am doing this for _you_. And maybe once you get your pompous, angry head out of your ass, you'll actually see that." she said, enraged. "Oh, and my name is not _girl_. It's Tayuya. Remember it."

She blinked out of the mindscape, leaving the giant ring of still-electrified ice behind.

The fox huffed, and lay down as the sound of sparks echoed around his cell.

* * *

She'd done it.

A ball of swirling crimson sat in her hand.

She'd decided she wasn't going to use her clones (who were off doing kenjutsu exercises) to recreate Naruto's 'Rasengan', and had instead done it on her own. It had taken all of four hours. Well, four hours once she'd had enough free time to sit down and figure it out.

Tayuya spun up a non-elemental ring in her left hand. Her chakrams were so similar to this it wasn't even funny. Her original technique worked in two dimensions. This new one worked in three. Otherwise, they were essentially the same thing other than the giant hole in the center of her rings.

She released the ring, and compressed the sphere in her right hand from a four inch diameter to a one inch. The thing started whining, growing brighter and brighter from the density and faster angular rotation of the chakra inside of it.

"Wow!"

Tayuya turned around at the sound of the voice. Naruto was running towards her from the forest, Jiraiya following at his own pace. They'd been working with their toad summons, which was the only reason she'd had _any_ free time in the first place.

"You did it!" he exclaimed, finally reaching her and looking at the luminescent red marble. "But… it's kinda small, ne?"

Tayuya laughed. "I was playing around and experimenting with it." She let the ball expand back to its original size, slowing down the swirling chakra inside of it.

Jiraiya made his way over to them. "I really shouldn't be surprised. It figures that the gaki'd teach you that."

Naruto turned around. "I didn't! I only showed her it once! She did it all by herself!" he said proudly, surprising her. She hadn't expected him to feel that strongly about her learning his technique.

Tayuya couldn't stop herself from smirking at the sage's dumbfounded expression. "You taught yourself that from seeing it _once_?" he asked incredulously.

"You know, it's really just like a continuation of my chakram exercises. They're circles and this is a sphere. The two techniques are basically the same. I'd even say that the rings could be used to learn this, since they're easier to control."

A look of understanding settled on his face. "Huh. I never thought of it like that. I guess it would be pretty simple then."

"Yeah." she turned to Naruto. "You said you still needed to add elemental chakra right? That's probably going to be pretty complex, even for me, because wind chakra'll want to cut outwards in all directions, and you're going to need to contain it. So I was wondering if you wanted to work on it together once you've got your wind nature down?"

She'd gotten the impression that adding nature transformation to this technique was something of a challenge for him, probably given to him by Jiraiya. Like her father and sealing. So she didn't just want to go and complete it on her own.

The boy grinned widely. "Yeah! I'd love that!"

* * *

Tayuya sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about yelling at you last time."

The giant fox sat with his muzzle on his arms, and emanated curiosity at her apology.

"It's just… really fucking frustrating." she walked over to him, causing ripples in the ankle-deep water, and lay down in front of his face and to the right, much closer than usual. "I think it's because I've seen just how well a bijū can get along with their host and how strong they can be working together, so I can't understand why you're so resistant."

Kurama huffed. "**If the boy made half as much effort as you are, I might consider it. And if you were my host, I'd have already agreed.**"

She looked at him in surprise. "Seriously?" He'd been so adamantly against it before. What changed?

He answered her questioning look. "**I've tried to consider your words with a clear mind, and came to the conclusion that you haven't said anything untrue. You've already talked to me more than all of my hosts combined. They refused to think of me as a being that could be reasoned with. They thought of me only as a manifestation of hatred for humanity.**"

"Huh. Well that's stupid. Even humans can't hate _everything_. There's always something they like."

"**I won't deny that I hate humanity. I do. But none of them have tried to talk to me as though I were a person. You are the first in long time. Almost since the time of my father.**"

"I'm sorry." she said. And she meant it.

"**For what?**" His eye rotated to look at her.

"That that's all you've known from people." she told him. "It must have been lonely."

"…**It was.**" he said, admitting it for the first time.

"I think… I think the reason I keep coming back, the reason I keep visiting you and trying to talk to you, is because it's keeping me sane." He blinked, keeping his eye on her, and again she got the sense that his interest had been piqued. "I said before I understood you. But it also works the other way around. You can understand me. And you have a hell of a lot more experience at this whole 'living forever' thing than I do. I don't even know what the fuck I _am_ anymore. I'm not human, but I'm also not just chakra, so I'm not a bijū. I _think_ I still have a body like a human, but it can't be harmed, like you guys. I never seem to run out of chakra, like I generate it faster than I can use it."

"**You are not human. You do not have human reserves. You are continuously creating chakra as you need it.**" he told her.

Tayuya stared at him.

"Fuck. See? It's shit like that. Anyways. My point is that you're the only person around me who knows what this is all like. So you're really the only one I can talk to."

"**I understand.**"

Silence permeated the large expanse for a few minutes until he spoke up. "**…I've decided that if you and the boy are able to get my Yin half out of that shinigami, I'll agree to work with him when he requires my assistance.**"

"Really?"

"**Yes. But only when the situation is dire. I am not doing it for him.**" He turned his entire head to her. "**I'm doing it because of you. You are the one that has reached out and made such a concerted effort to convince me.**"

"O-okay. You should at least try to talk to him, though." she told him warily. "You _are_ going to be with him for the rest of his life."

The fox grinned, his lips pulling back to reveal sharp white teeth. "**You're not aware of it, are you? You were wrong when you initially said that your bond is to the boy's seal. It is not. It is to **_**me**_**.**"

Tayuya rolled her eyes. Great. Just _great_. She was now permanently linked to a giant mass of chakra in the shape of a kitsune. This fucking seal on her chest just kept getting better and better.

"**That's my other condition for agreeing to work with him.**"

"What is?

"…**talking with me.**" he answered, saying it quietly as if it took a lot out of him to voice the request, which it probably had, considering his pride.

She'd already told him she thought she needed it., so that wasn't exactly a hard request to fill. But it must have mattered to him if he was willing to ask it.

Tayuya smiled. "I think I can do that."

* * *

"Gaki, Hime. I've got something you might want to hear."

Both of them stopped their sparring, looking at the sage.

"We've found Sasuke Uchiha."

* * *

**A/N:**

HAHAHAHAHAHA You thought Tayuya giving Jiraiya the snake's bases wasn't going to change anything? Psh. As if. All of canon just got totally nuked. In case you couldn't tell. Lmfao.

What do you think of our giant orange fuzzball? Kurama's such a tsundere. For real, yo.

Tayuya is the only character I can ever imagine staring him down and calling him an idiot to his face when he's angry. It's just perfect for her.

This is the longest chapter I've posted so far, at 12,500 words. Almost twice my preferred length. It just didn't feel right splitting it into two parts. So you got it all in one. Think of it as a bonus for being such awesome people.

Review! Please! Tell me what you think!


	21. Spirals

This story is my first. The one I've labored over, scrutinizing every detail, _painfully_ holding myself to a very high standard. It's much more (of an) epic than my other fics so far. You guys are amazing, sticking with me through this. You picked up a story that is very out of the norm (I mean, come on, yuri with two minor female characters? seriously?), and the vast majority of what I have received is positive feedback and wonderful critiques that have helped me evolve as an author. We've broken a hundred fifty followers, and I'm stunned at the level of dedication some of you exhibit. People (multiple!) have told me this is their favorite story on the entire site. Like, holy _shit_, guys. I'm honored that you enjoy it enough to say that.

Alright, enough stalling, let's do this shit.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Did Naruto's past ever come back to haunt him in ways he didn't expect? If not, I don't own _Naruto_ or any of its associated media.

* * *

**Chapter 21:**  
**Spirals**

Naruto's reaction was, predictably, first.

"EEEHHHHH!?"

Jiraiya nodded. "We captured an associate of his that was more than willing to shell out the information as a plea bargain."

Well, shit. "We're… uh, not going to go find him, right?" Tayuya tried to hide the amount of anxiety and panic that was rising quickly, but knew some of it probably slipped out.

The sage shook his head. "No. We're not ready for that. Even without his arms, he's cunning as hell. And with that information about what he's done to himself, he doesn't even need his arms to fight us. I don't even know if all three of us at the same time could take him on and win."

Tayuya let out a sigh of relief at the same time that Naruto's face twisted into a mix of frustration, resignation, and understanding. Over the past four months they'd spent together, she'd come to understand just how much the blonde cared about Sasuke. Not that she could empathize, she'd never held any sort of feelings like that other than for Fu (who she _had_ run after without a second thought). But with Fu, their relationship had been built on trust and mutual dependency. The mint-haired girl had needed Tayuya just as much as she had needed her. If Fu ever became like Sasuke, she knew that Tayuya would be right there at the jinchūriki's side. It couldn't be anything worse than anything she'd already done, after all.

Naruto was… _innocent_. He couldn't comprehend the darkness that could exist within people, and thus worked to purge them of that and bring them out. She, on the other hand, had lived in that darkness. Had reveled in it. Now… she knew something had changed; she felt… balanced, almost. Not tied to extremes like Naruto and Sasuke, but firmly in between them at the midpoint.

"Look, I know it's not what you want, gaki, but this is one of those situations where running in will just get us all killed. We need to get you guys farther along before we even _consider_ going near the same place he is." Naruto nodded slightly, his eyes still unfocused.

Tayuya punched him softly in the shoulder. "Lighten up, Naruto." She swallowed. "We'll… get there eventually." She just really hoped it wouldn't be anytime soon.

"Yeah, I know." He lifted his head up to look her in the eyes. "Thanks, nee-chan."

Gods that was still weird. Even after a month and a half, it still felt weird to hear that. It was growing on her, for sure, but she'd been shocked silent the first time he'd called her that. He hadn't even noticed when he'd said it, apparently having been a slip of the tongue. It had honestly rattled her (scared her, even, not that she would ever admit that), and she hadn't slept for the next three days, even Kurama leaving her to sink into her thoughts when she visited him at night. She'd eventually come to the conclusion that there was absolutely nothing she could really do about it, as that was clearly how he saw her: a sister, and pushing him away by telling him that it wasn't alright would be a really bad idea with his visible awkwardness in this… family? sibling? dynamic and/or relationship that had been developing. That wasn't to say that she hadn't felt awkward or caught off-guard either, because she sure as hell had.

It was starting to level out now, their roles in each others' lives becoming more well-defined and familiar. Naruto was like an easily excitable and distracted younger brother, always wondering what she was up to and even helping when he could, whether that was keeping their spirits up, (unexpectedly) cooking, or even just sitting down with Tayuya and helping her.

It was… mildly embarrassing and humbling. She was couldn't understand seals easily and struggled with the basic concepts, while Naruto took to them like a fish in water, learning them at two or three times the rate she was. Even using clones didn't really help. So Naruto had actually taken to tutoring her, happy that he could help out his surrogate sister and prove that he wasn't the weak link in their odd trio. Not that he was, by any means. They were slowly adapting Naruto's unpredictable nature into his fighting style, using it instead of trying to suppress it, which Tayuya saw as potentially having terrible side-effects later on.

"Knowing where they are will allow us to keep track of them if they move, so when we _are_ ready, we won't need to go hunting." Jiraiya explained. "It'll make things that much easier."

Tayuya nodded in agreement. If they could actually keep track of the bastard snake, it would make taking him out for good that much easier when they had to.

"We also need to think about the Akatsuki. They'll be after Naruto sooner or later, and we're still nowhere near where we should be to handle that situation. Moving around this much isn't doing us any good. So, I've been thinking about someplace we could go to settle down for a while that would be out of the way enough that we wouldn't need to worry about running around. I might need to leave you two on your own to keep in touch with my network, so someplace that's also easily defensible. After a lot of thinking, I've finally settled on a location." The older man grinned. "And I think you're going to like it.

"…where?" Tayuya asked hesitantly, wary of the Sannin's machinations, which usually ended up with them in some mildly perverted situation.

"Uzu no Kuni."

* * *

"Hey, asshole," Tayuya called, walking through the water of Naruto's mindscape towards the large orange lump in the middle.

Kurama growled softly and Tayuya smirked, the large fox curling an edge of his mouth, creating a mock-smile in reaction. Their relationship had become one of mild teasing and antagonism, the heat behind the snarking they did having never really formed.

"So did you hear all the shit the pervert talked about today?" she questioned, sitting down and leaning against his side while he curled around so he could see her with his left eye.

"…**no. What did you discuss?**"

"We're going to Uzu." She looked over at him, his eye remaining focused on her, and she could feel his interest being piqued.

"**For what purpose?**"

She turned her head back up towards the blackness above them. "He wants to go somewhere we can focus on training without running around all the time. Somewhere isolated and not easily accessible. Uzu's one of those few places. But even better, it'll give us a place we can finally take out this giant scroll and start searching for a way to get your other self out of that seal-construct shinigami." Because of how often they moved, the potential security risk, and because of how damn _large_ the contents of the thing were, they hadn't even gotten a chance to really open the thing yet to even look around.

The giant fox on her right hummed thoughtfully, with a tint of satisfaction. "**Good. The sooner the better.**"

"You know, you don't have to be such a dick about refusing to talk to Naruto until it happens."

Kurama huffed, expelling warm air from his nostrils. "**No. Not until I have my Yin again, that's the terms we agreed on.**" he stated with finality, closing the topic.

Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Fine." It was useless arguing with him about this. Kurama could simultaneously be the most considerate, yet stubborn and infuriating entity she'd ever had to deal with. …Not that she could say that she made a habit out of talking to sentient masses of chakra _other_ than Kurama, but that wasn't the point.

"**Are you looking forward to seeing the place of your ancestors?**"

She sighed. "I guess? I've got mixed feelings about it. Yeah, I want to go there. It'll be awesome to just walk around and see things, even if there isn't much left after everything got torched. But at the same time, I'm anxious and I can't figure out why." There was this persistent tingling at the back of her head, and she couldn't figure out exactly what it meant. "But I can't shake the feeling something's going to happen."

"**Things happen. How's this any different?**"

"It's not a good feeling."

The bijū squinted at her. "**You shouldn't disregard senses like that.**"

"I know, I know," Tayuya told him. "But what the fuck can I do about it? I'm training, I'm stronger than ever, and I can heal from anything. What else is there?"

"**I don't know**"

"Yeah, me neither."

They fell into silence, the only things that Tayuya could hear being Kurama's breath and the beating of his giant heart as she sat with her back against him. She found the sound oddly comforting, and he no longer protested like he had initially when she had done it. She still didn't know _why_ the bijū had biologically-accurate (albeit androgynous) bodies whenever they manifested, and she'd given up on thinking about it. Only the Sage would know why he did that.

She closed her eyes and leaned further back into his fur, allowing herself some tranquility if just for a moment. "I'm tired of this shit."

"**Of what?**"

"Of not knowing what's going on. Why the fuck I'm like this. Why my life had to get so screwed up it isn't even recognizable anymore. Like, you knew your father. He created you to be individuals, to grow, to learn, to experience. And you said that there would come a time when you would all come back together eventually. So you have something to look forward to, something that you _know_ is going to happen. But me?" She shook her head. "I've got nothing. Someone did this to me, but I don't know who. Obviously there's _some_ reason, or I wouldn't be here. The only clue I've got is this fucking seal, and _Jiraiya's_ struggling with it. The man who's supposedly the best seal-master in the world right now." She opened her eyes and looked at his own blood-red iris. "How do you do it? How do you handle living through the years?"

Kurama sighed. "**Focusing on the short-term. For example, my eventual release from this infernal prison. I have nothing else I particularly want to do, so I sleep.**"

"But doesn't that get boring? Sleeping all the time? Not doing… anything?"

His shoulders shifted in a minute shrug. "**To a degree. It hasn't been that way forever. Our father taught us things while he was alive. But he was clever about it. He'd hide lessons in stories that he told us, and then later ask our thoughts on particular points, forcing us to form our own opinions and ideas. We never really caught on to what he was doing until after he had passed.**"

"But nothing since then?"

"**Not really. There was one or two people early on in our lives that searched us out, monks believing us to be guardians of knowledge or something, and they were the only contact I had with humanity until **_**Madara**_." He spat the name like a curse. "**I told you that you were the first in a long time, and I meant it. It's been too long since I've had someone to talk to.**"

"Yeah. You guys may be chakra, but you're people too. I don't… I never really knew much about the bijū before I met Fu. Just that you guys were huge, and powerful. So I guess I've never really seen you as anything other else. Like, you have a personality. You have opinions, and thoughts, and feelings, and ideas. So you're people. I don't get why everyone else has a problem getting that."

The fox snorted. "**Because humans are idiots. You should be careful though.**" He smirked playfully. "**You're showing your true colors. But don't let **_**me**_** be the one to stop you.**"

Tayuya blushed. "Oh, shut the hell up. You know what I'm saying. And I could say the same thing, asshole. I know you care, no matter how much you try and deny it."

"**About you? Maybe. I'm still deciding.**"

"Yeah, yeah. Sure you are." She rolled her eyes even as a slight smile appeared. "Fucking fox."

"**Precocious brat.**" he growled, still smirking.

Tayuya just grinned as the pair fell silent, comfortable in the quiet that enveloped the giant seal.

* * *

"Alright Hime, Gaki. No turning back now. We'll have one island to take a break on, but nothing else. Ready?"

Tayuya and Naruto both nodded. They stood on a rocky seashore while waves continued to roll in and lap at their feet. It was cool, the salty wind biting at their skin as it blew inland from where they were, the southern coast of Hot Water.

"Let's go then."

* * *

She may have had limitless energy and chakra, but water-running for eight hours was still tiring mentally. The monotony was getting to her, and Naruto and Jiraiya didn't speak, preferring to conserve any energy they could. There had been a slight break with the night they'd spent on that singular island, but other than that it was boring as fuck.

'_Hey, Kurama?_'

'**Yes?**'

'_What do you know about Uzushio?_'

'**Not much.**' he admitted. '**Based on the seal my first container used to seal me, they inherited some of my father's own sealing abilities and techniques.**'

'_And your second container? She was an Uzumaki too, right?_'

He growled. '**Yes. The blonde-haired brat's own mother. But her seal was nothing like my first. It was… extremely uncomfortable. Painful, even. She crucified and chained me to a boulder using her own chakra chains, all while spouting that she would tame me with **"**love**"**.**'

What the _fuck_!?

'_She… __**nailed**__ you to a __**rock**__? With… __**chains**__?_' No wonder he disliked Naruto.

'**Yes.**' he rumbled, a slow-burning anger revealing itself in his voice. '**From what I understand, it's an Uzumaki ability, to be able to manifest chakra physically.**'

'_Like… you guys?_'

He went quiet, before responding. '**Perhaps. I hadn't considered it. My father had a technique known as **"**The Creation of All Things**"**. It's what he used to create us from the chakra of the Jūbi. I wouldn't be surprised if the technique is a shadow of that ability, using only Yang chakra and limited to a single form.**'

'_Huh. Do you think I or Naruto could do it?_'

'**You? Perhaps. Your father's sacrifice granted you with the life-force, the body, and the Yang chakra of a pure-blooded Uzumaki. But you still retained your mother's chakra influence and bloodline-limit, creating a balance of the Yin and Yang in your body. I suspect that the chains were only possible because of how skewed the Uzumaki chakra was towards Yang. If you attempted it… I don't know what would happen. It most likely wouldn't work at all.**' He paused. '**The brat, I doubt. My chakra continuously leaks from this thrice-damned jail, mixing with his own. If it was his own, maybe. But combined with mine it would create an imbalance in the construct, causing the chains to disintegrate even as they formed.**'

'…_Wow._'

'**What?**'

'_You really know your shit about chakra, huh?_'

She could hear him snort in amusement. '**I am a being of pure chakra. Would you expect any less?**'

'_I… I guess not. I just didn't think about it._'

'**It's unlike you to not think of things like this.**'

She huffed in irritation, and Jiraiya and Naruto looked over at her in curiosity even as they ran over the sea. Tayuya waved them off. '_I guess I've just been distracted. Thinking about Uzu._'

'**Understandable.**'

'_I mean, my dad said the island was razed. Literally scorched to ash. It's been thirty years or so, so vegetation has probably grown back, but other than that what else could be left?_'

'**Ruins. Underground areas that would not be burnt. Stone buildings.**'

Tayuya sighed again over the link. '_Yeah, I suppose. But I doubt there'll be anything else to look for. And it's not like I know where my mother or father actually lived, so I can't exactly go and see it. I doubt there's even really anything __**to**__ see_'

'**You may be surprised.**'

'_Well, nothing to do but wait and find out._'

* * *

When they made landfall on the island, cliffs towered over them, obstructing the view of anything else.

The three stared up at the sheer white walls, and Tayuya whistled at the almost one hundred foot tall island-side. "I wonder if those are natural or created, because that'd be a hell of a defense."

Naruto nodded, looking up at the cliff's edge eagerly.

Jiraiya glanced over at the Uzumaki pair on his left. "Well, let's go. We'll slowly work our way down to the south-eastern edge, which is where it would be best to stay. I did some research, and it was mostly forests and wildlife in that area, which means there shouldn't have been as much destruction, and we'll easily be able to find food. But we can take our time to get down there. I know what this has to mean to you guys."

Tayuya simply stood there mentally preparing herself for what she might be seeing.

There was really no way of knowing. Better to just get this over with.

Nodding to herself, she made her way towards the cliff-face before running up its side, Naruto following close behind her.

The scene at the top was unlike anything she'd seen.

Large plots of land were the closest to them, and all that could be seen was the floors and remnants of walls of houses. Stone and brick was scattered all around, some permanently charred black.

If she looked really closely, she could almost imagine the layout of the village: guard watchtowers close to the cliff's edge, residential buildings at the edges, business and merchants nearer the center.

She began stepping forward, walking along what appeared to be a road towards the hub of the village.

It gave her chills.

It was so dead. It was _death_. There should have been houses, and people, and animals. But instead there was just this pure silence coupled with the ability to look over a hundred feet in any direction before seeing even the smallest sign of something that was above waist-line.

There was just… nothing.

"N-nee-chan?" Naruto mumbled behind her.

She turned back to look at him. "Yeah?"

"I-I don't like this." he said, hugging himself. "It feels wrong. Really wrong."

"…yeah." she agreed, still looking around at the lack of anything. It was beautiful, but a very cold, hard form of beauty.

They both heard the tapping of geta behind them, and both turned slightly to look at Jiraiya. "Pretty bad, huh?" Jiraiya said somberly. Naruto nodded.

"I think we should stick to the coast." Tayuya told him. "There's nothing else to see, anyways…"

Jiraiya looked at her, and relented. "Alright, hime. We can do that. Let's get going then, we should be able to make it by nightfall if we push ourselves."

He led them over to the eastern edge of the town, heading into the trees, and Tayuya couldn't help but look back one last time at the dead expanse where there should have been life.

_It shouldn't have been like this._

* * *

True to his words, they got to the place the sage wanted them at by nightfall, without them encountering any more ruins. The forest area he'd chosen for them appeared almost untouched by the invasion and fires, unlike some of the still-scorched places they'd run through.

At least here, there were sounds of life. The lack of sound had been the creepiest thing about traveling through Uzu by far. Running across barren landscapes just felt… wrong. Suna at least felt natural, the sand blowing and the occasional visible animal. But on those scorched-black plains where nothing grew there was literally nothing.

They made camp and ate dinner in relative silence, Naruto too tired from the constant running over three days to do anything but eat. Tayuya was locked in her thoughts, contemplating everything they'd be doing.

She'd get out the scroll tomorrow so they could start going through the Archive and searching for the things they were looking for. It'd take a long time, but they could off-load some of the work to shadow clones. Truth be told, Naruto and Jiraiya would probably better at trying to find anything than she would.

Tayuya sighed. She felt slightly useless. All she could really do was continue practicing her taijutsu and kenjutsu, and working on her improvised elemental techniques. And talk to Kurama.

She wished whatever she felt was going to happen would happen sooner rather than later.

* * *

"Hey, Naruto. Come look at this!" Tayuya called out.

They were walking along the coastline, just exploring the areas to see if there was anything left or if things from the invasion had washed up. She'd thought she was just seeing some sort of shadow on one of the cliff-faces, but there was nothing to cast a shadow.

So she'd gone down to the area that had water only a few inches below it. It was low-tide right now, so it was pure luck she'd even seen it, as it would have been covered completely with high-tide.

Right now she was standing horizontally looking at it. It was some sort of cave, with a slightly blue shimmer across the entrance. The thing that really caught her eye was the spiral of their clan symbol above the opening.

"Oh, cool!" Naruto said from next to her, having joined her. "Let's see what it is!"

"Naru–" But he'd already jumped into the opening, through that thin blue thing which they had no idea about. Naruto was so impulsive, and she was worried it was going to get him in trouble eventually.

Rolling her eyes, she followed him, slipping through the sheet of …something. It felt weird, resisting her movement slightly, like walking through gelatin might feel like.

And then she was through. She turned around, taking a step back, and stared at the barrier (because that was what it had to be.) Where the rock on the outside had been wet and salt-crusted, this tunnel was perfectly dry.

_It must keep the water out, but allow people into it. Or maybe just Uzumaki?_

Shaking her head, she turned back around and walked down the tunnel, following where Naruto had to have gone. Only twenty feet in, it opened up, revealing a gigantic cavern.

Tayuya looked up, wide-eyed. The entire opposite wall was entirely flat and covered in pictures, _huge_ pictures that were incredibly detailed and well-done, like a painting.

Naruto was in front of it, and she walked over next to him, reaching out a hand and touching the intricate drawings. The surface was _perfectly_ smooth, no bumps or even the grit of stone like she expected, and it felt like there was something protecting the pictures as well.

"Holy shit."

"What is this?" Naruto asked.

"I-I don't know."

She took a step back to look at the full thing better and hopefully help her understand.

It almost looked like a story. A history of some sort?

It went from left to right. The first image was a group of people high up on the wall, with land far below them.

In the next distinct image, a horned woman was falling head-first from the group, reaching for people who now stood on the world below. She was dressed in robes of pure white, except for a line of six magatama that descended the front of her kimono.

Next was what seemed like a large war, people wielding swords and cutting each other down, their blood soaking into the earth and looking drawn like roots towards the middle, where the white woman stood next to a large plant with a giant fruit at the top, as if she had grown it.

In the next picture, the people were no longer fighting, instead arranged side-by-side, the woman floating above them, but lower than the higher people in the first picture, with her arms spread wide.

But then the images changed. The sky was dark grey, depicting a large white monster with ten-tails and a single blood-red eye. _The Jūbi?_ People were littered around it, clearly dead. Then there were two men also in white standing to each side of the monster, only their backs visible as they appeared to fight it.

Next there was an image of a man in white with small horns and a red mark on his forehead, his eyes purple and ringed, standing above people below him, lines drawn from him to all of the people, a large dusty circle above him.

_Is… Is that the __**moon**__?_

And finally, there was another picture, the largest, almost identical to the previous one, except that the moon was missing, and the people had been replaced by a circle of creatures surrounding a spiral. _Their_ spiral. The Uzumaki spiral.

A beige being with black markings over its body and a single tail.

A blue feline form with curling flames and two tails.

A turtle-shaped creature with three shrimp-like tails.

A startling-red ape with tusks and four tails.

A white horse… thing with a strange head and five tails.

A whiteish-purple mass that had six tails.

A blue, armored insect that had six wings at at its end and a single long tail.

A brown quadraped with an ox-head and eight octopus tentacles behind it.

And finally, an orange-red fox, with nine very long tails behind it.

'_Kurama?_'

'**Yes?**'

'_Is this… is this your history?_'

The kitsune took a moment to access her senses.

'**Yes. Yes it is.**' He sounded amazed. '**That's our creation. The sealing of the Juubi by our father, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, the Rikudō Sennin, and his brother, Hamura. And then our creation from its chakra. I'm extremely surprised that this exists. It… I don't even understand how it can. The truth of our genesis and the fate of the Jūbi was known to very few.**'

She reached out a hand to touch Kurama's body, from his head to his tails, and then moving upwards towards the spiral.

A small arc reached out and shocked her. "Fuck!" She reacted reflexively to the sound, jerking her hand back and shaking it out. It hadn't hurt her, but there was still a sense of… wrongness that she had felt when she'd touched it. Like it had been rejecting her or something.

On a hunch, she waved Naruto over. "Hey, take a look at this, Naruto." He blinked and walked over to her, and she took his left hand, putting it against the spiral on some weird impulse.

"Whoa," he said in amazement. "It's… really, _really_ warm. And fuzzy." He grinned goofily. Something crept over his skin, black marks that ran between his fingers onto the back of hand, descending and twisting around his forearm.

_Wha… what the __**hell**__? What __**is**__ that?_

After a minute, the black marks glowed red momentarily and then returned to their previous color. He removed his hand and stared at his arm in wonder. There was the same spiral in the center of his left palm, with branches that extended in every direction, between his fingers over his wrist, twisting as it went. It gave off a sense of… rawness. Undiluted. Something _pure_. Almost like Inochi, in a way.

"It's… it's a key," he whispered.

"What?"

"A key. I just… I just know it. A… a 'skeleton key'?" he said, as if he was unsure of his words.

Tayuya looked at him curiously. "How do you know that?"

The blonde shook his head. "I dunno. It's just there. In my head."

_Great. More mystery seals popping up. Just my luck._

The redhead sighed in exasperation. '_Any clue, furball?_'

'**None. I have never heard of anything like this.**'

"Uh… nee-chan?"

She brought her attention back to reality. "Yeah?"

"What's a skeleton key?"

Oh. "It's like… a master key. A key than can open any lock that it fits."

_But what kind of lock?_ she wondered. Skeleton keys usually only worked for one set of locks. _And more importantly, __**what**__ can it unlock?_ Images of dark doorways with cosmic horrors crawling out rose unbidden her mind, almost making her snort in amusement at the ridiculousness of the thought.

Then again… she was an undead immortal girl with limitless energy bound for eternity to a sapient mass of chakra in the shape of a fox who had half of himself sealed into the stomach of a death god. …Cosmic horrors suddenly didn't seem so unlikely.

"Well… whatever it can unlock, we'll just have to see, right?" she said, laughing slightly nervously. "But I think that seal is why this place was here in the first place." Naruto nodded in agreement. Tayuya took a moment to look out of the mouth of the cave and noted the rising ocean level. "We should probably get back to the pervert before the tide comes in and traps us here." She'd had enough of getting trapped in caves already.

Tayuya turned around and began walking back to the entrance and its barrier before looking back behind her when she didn't hear Naruto's footsteps.

"Come on, Naruto." That final call was what got him to look away from the wall and moving towards her quickly, sandals tapping on the stone floor.

Now how were they going to explain this to Jiraiya

* * *

"Another seal?" The sage looked at them impassively. "Why am I not surprised about this?" he deadpanned.

Tayuya shrugged. "Probably because weird shit tends to happen around us?"

"… fair point," he acknowledged, sighing. "Not much we can do about it anyways. At least we know it's not doing anything to him. I can see right now that it's what he said, some kind of seal key. They're pretty much unmistakable."

Naruto looked at his hand appraisingly in the firelight, moving his fingers around and watching how the light bounced off of the slight sheen of the black characters on his skin.

"Just… don't try it on your seal, okay Naruto?" Jiraiya said.

'**And finally, something smart is said. For once.**' Kurama commented blandly.

Tayuya smirked internally at the kitsune's jab.

The sage continued. "We don't know what it'll do to the eight-trigrams, if it will even work, but either way we shouldn't risk the chance that it may harm it in some way. Maybe we can find some reference to that thing in the Archives, though…" He trailed off, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Well, it's definitely worth looking into. We'll focus on that and any information that could help us decipher Hime's seal."

"… _And_ unsealing Kurama's other half from the shinigami," Tayuya interjected heatedly. Even eight months later, Jiraiya was very wary and distrustful of the nine-tailed bijū, which was really getting on her nerves.

The seal-master rolled his eyes. "Yes, and anything to shed light on the most complex and strongest known containment seal in existence." A dark look passed over his face. "I still think it's a really bad idea to go messing around with the Shiki Fūin. That seal's already taken more souls than it should have been allowed to. Nothing is worth that price."

Tayuya gritted her teeth. "I made a promise to him. And I am _not_ going to break it." she hissed.

Thoughts of the last promises she'd broken rose to the surface of her mind. She tried to push them back down, not allowing them to torture her. But they were now there, _visible_, unable to be denied, and so the damage was done.

Her suppressed self-hatred and loathing burned like acid under her skin. It was like a floodgate. All the pent up emotions that had slowly been growing ever since burying Fu washed over her.

And suddenly, she needed to get away. Away from everybody.

She stood up abruptly. "I need to go." she managed to grind out behind clenched teeth.

"Onee-"

A single look silenced the blonde who'd spoken. "_Alone._" And with that final word, she turned around and sprinted away in a random direction.

'**Girl…**'

'_You too, Kurama._' Her angry emotions bled into her words, and she felt him retreat from her mind in acceptance.

She ran.

Away from her thoughts.

Away from the reminders.

Away from the reality of it all.

She ran until she couldn't run anymore because she'd run out of land, barely managing to slow down in time to keep from colliding with the large rocks that made up this section of the coast.

"AGGGGGHHHHH!"

Tayuya screamed, lashing out at the largest boulder in front her, not even bothering to reinforce her hand to protect it.

_Why? Why am I cursed like this? Cursed to have the people I care about die? Cursed to feel no pain? WHY!?_

She wanted the pain. It was nothing less than she deserved.

Tayuya kept hitting the stone until her rage finally died, burning out and leaving only emptiness behind. She hit it one last time, tears dripping down her face onto the sand at her feet. She didn't have to look to know that her pulped hand was already whole again. Nothing was holding her up anymore, and she collapsed to the ground.

_A year. A year to the fucking day._

A year since her vow of protection had been broken.

A year since the green-haired girl who'd stolen her heart had died in her arms.

_Fuck. Damnit Fu. __**Why?**__ I… I miss you so much._

_I wish you were here. I just want you here again. I want to hear you laugh again. To see you smile and listen to you talk about anything and everything._

_I'm trying to move on, but it's so hard. Why did you have to go? Why did it have to be __**you**__?_ Tayuya made a sound between a gasp, a sob, and a laugh. _Are you watching all of this? Can you see what's happening to me? I wonder what you'd think. Am I going crazy? I thought I was moving forward. I thought I was dealing with all of this. But I just… I can't seem to get over you._

_Please don't hate me for trying to find a way to get you back. I can't… I can't take this much longer._

_I need you._

* * *

Tayuya sighed, looking out at the waves that lapped at the beach. She'd been sitting here for a while now, not doing anything, just existing. The waves offered some form of soothing, reminding her of the storms in Lightning. They were both very powerful, potentially destructive forces of nat–

'**Tayuya! Watch out!**'

A single hard blow to the back of her head, and she knew no more.

* * *

"Ughhhhh…" Tayuya groaned, sitting up and clutching at her head. For the first time since she'd died, she was feeling pain, in the form of an absolutely massive migraine. Taking a second to try and push the continuous throbbing sensation away, she looked around at her surroundings.

She was in some sort of… steel room. A cell.

Fuck.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

'_**KURAMA!**_'

No response.

Chakra. Right. She tried to create a blade of wind in her hand, but nothing happened.

_Wha…_

She couldn't feel it. It wasn't there. Her chakra, the one thing that had always been there, was gone. Missing.

She was helpless.

Tayuya started hyperventilating, almost gagging on her own saliva.

This was too similar. Too real. This couldn't be happening again.

It couldn't. Couldn't. Couldn't. Couldn't.

Her anxiety grew too much, the darkness in her mind closing in and engulfing her. With a single whimper, she collapsed sideways, her eyes rolling up in her skull, as she was mercifully granted unconsciousness.

* * *

"Wake up, Tayuya."

Something poked her shoulder, and Tayuya blinked her eyes blearily, staring ahead but not really seeing. Slowly, a sharply angled face with dark eyes and blue hair pulled into a spiky ponytail resolved itself.

Another poke. The toe of a shoe.

Tayuya blinked again, finally connecting the face in front of her after a few moments. The shock managed to break through the surrounding haze and her still-pounding headache.

"G-guren?" Oh fuck. _Oh FUCK._

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" the woman asked harshly. "No, don't answer that. How the _fuck_ are you alive? Orochimaru-sama said all of you were dead. Imagine my surprise when I suddenly see you sitting on a rock right next to this place." she said, venom dripping from her voice. The eyes that looked down were like chips of ice, emotionless, hard as the crystal she could wield, yet holding a fury that was only one step away from cracking the thin barrier and lashing out.

_Uh-oh._

Tayuya locked up, causing Guren to sharpen her look, staring right at her. "You _didn't_." Tayuya didn't move, but that seemed to be all the confirmation the other woman needed. "You _did_! You _bitch_! You faked your own death and left us!" The redhead spluttered to form a coherent sentence, but was cut off. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't gut you right now."

The Uzumaki's eyes widened. "What the fuck, 'Ren?"

"Don't look at me like that. You _**left**_ us. You know what the penalty is." Guren's jaw clenched in anger. "And don't call me that. You lost the right to that the second you deserted."

Tayuya glared. "He's an utter cunt and I'd do it again in a second. You don't fucking get it. He _brainwashed_ me. He was screwing around with my _fucking_ mind! But you're so in awe of him that you can't even see the shit he's doing. You can't see how much better you'd be without him." Guren growled at her. "You're pathetic, 'Ren. And I'm glad I'm not his fucking sycophant anymore."

A snowflake-shaped shuriken was suddenly in the wall next to her head, less than a centimeter from her left ear. "Shut _up_, Tayuya. Or I really _will_ kill you."

"No you won't." She glared at the shōton user. "I can figure out why you're here. It's not exactly hard. You're on Uzu, an island right between Kiri and the mainland. He's having you collect bloodline samples again, isn't he? And he's using this as a holding place until you get enough to ship them off, while not gathering too many at a time to get Kiri's attention. You're just going to ship me out on the next one, express delivery to hebi-teme himself."

Guren's right eye twitched at the insulting nickname. "I should slit your neck for talking about him like that. But, you always were the smart one. The only one who could ever fight me equally. Sound versus Crystal. Too bad your chakra's sealed."

"Yeah? Well let me out and I'll fight you, for old time's sake."

The blue-haired woman smirked. "I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? Too bad for you I won't fall for that."

"Well, it was worth a try, wasn't it?" Tayuya retorted, sparks beginning to fly between the two of them.

"Guren-sama!" A voice echoed from behind the steel door, cutting the escalating tension and making them break off their glares at each other.

"Tch. Seems like our time's been cut short." Guren walked to the door, and then turned her head to pin Tayuya with a look. "I'd say it's nice to see you again, but considering the circumstances, it really isn't. Maybe after staying here a while you'll come to your senses." And on that final note she left, the door slamming behind her and leaving the sound to echo in Tayuya's small cell.

* * *

**A/N:**

I think my favorite part in here was Tayuya's conversations with Kurama. They just roll off of my fingers, and I love how well-done it feels. Her explosive breakdown is meant to feel jarring and out of place, _because it is_. She just got to her limit and snapped.

So you can pretty clearly see that Tayuya's slowly building herself a 'family': Naruto is the hyperactive younger brother, Kurama is the older brother who's overprotective of his younger sister, and Jiraiya is the pervy uncle. I love it so much.

I had no plans to include Guren. It was solely from a great deal of conversation with Ziltoid that I decided to put her in. I kinda really like her. I just… had never even heard of her when I started this story, as I've only ever read the manga. In that light, I'd like to acknowledge Ziltoid's contribution to this chapter, who has kept acting as a sounding board for all my weird ideas, and even giving a few of his own.

Follow! Favorite! And _please_ review! I love them :)


	22. Confronting the Past

Suddenly, UPDATE!

Heh. heheheh. /rubs head. Hi?

I've got so many stories. So many words. So little fucking time. I'd say 300k words total in a little over a year and a half is a very respectable number, wouldn't you? If any of you like Worm, I'm doing an alt-power!Taylor fic called _A Finely Honed Blade_ that people seem to like. (460 favorites in two months, good god) /shameless plug.

I made a website! It's a fanfiction . net downloader that creates fully-featured EPUBs from any FF story. You can find it at ficrip . io (without the spaces, obviously). The easiest way to use it is just replace "fanfiction . net" with "ficrip . io" for any story URL and it'll automatically download that story. Pretty cool, huh? Try it out! Tell me if you break it, haha.

EDIT: If it isn't working for you, a) you might have too old a browser. I am using HTML5 stuff in it, and that's a bit fancy. b) there's a memory leak somewhere that I'm currently hunting down. It's a bit annoying.

I had someone comment on how dead Uzu was and how they didn't expect it. I had a very, _very_ vivid image in my head of what the island and town looked like, based on pictures I've seen of deserted areas (like Chernobyl) and just how much damage wildfires can do (go Google "Colorado wildfire aftermath" for examples). Then, imagine that those fires are chakra-infused and even hotter. Yes, there's some greenery growing around and coming back, especially in the forests that managed to escape unscathed for the most part, but the majority of the semi-urban areas and flat plains on Uzu are complete toast. Pun completely intended.

In other news, my writing is so much better than when I started this story that it isn't even funny. 1,713 favorites and 2,216 followers total across all my stories in a little over a year and a half. And you guys were the _**first**_. Thank you. Thank you so, so much. Without the comments and reviews I'd gotten on the early chapters of this story, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am now.

**Warning:** We've got some serious ultraviolence in this chapter. If you don't want to read it, it's the scene that starts in an arena.

* * *

**Chapter 22:**  
**Confronting the Past**

**Ten years ago, Tanzaku Gai**

"Hey." A hand shook her shoulder. "Hey, c'mon. Wake up."

Tayuya groaned, sitting up.

A boy sat kneeling to her left, dark green eyes looking at her with concern. "You okay?"

She blinked tiredly at him, trying to make the image in front of her stay in focus. It wasn't really working.

"Damn, you don't look so good," the boy noted. She felt her head getting lighter as she struggled to keep her eyes open. "You gonna be al–" Tayuya felt herself falling sideways, but couldn't do anything to stop herself, too tired and hungry to fight the force that pulled her down. "Shit! Hey!" The hand shook her again, and she wanted to tell it to go away, that she just wanted to sleep, but she was already fading out.

* * *

**Present-day, Uzu no Kuni**

Kurama was worried. And not just worried, as in for himself, but _concerned_. As in, for the well-being of another person.

It was a feeling he hadn't felt since the time of his father.

Despite acquiescing to Tayuya's desire of privacy, he'd kept their link open, if just so that if she decided to try and do something _really_ stupid, he could step in.

He'd watched as she'd vented her frustrations, pouring out her rage and sadness, the heartache and emptiness that she kept locked inside herself so deeply that he believed she hadn't even been aware of it herself. He'd wished that he could do something for the girl, but he'd never been one for words, and this time hadn't been any different.

Millenia of habits were not broken in less than a year, not that he could even _begin_ to fathom what to say.

The girl was the first person he'd truly talked to other than Hagoromo. Actually spoken with. And even then, it had been different, as he would always be the Sage's son, and the man would always be a father to him, never a friend.

But the redhead was not one of his siblings. She was not one of the eight that he already had an established relationship with, a relationship where he already had an role and image. Instead, she was someone new, and yet, at the same time, someone who could relate.

… Uncomfortably well, at that.

He'd been loathe to admit how accurate her words had been during their first interactions. All he had seen of her at first was yet another human meat-bag, except _she_ was one that he had the unfortunate luck of somehow becoming entangled with for the rest of her pathetic human lifespan.

His view on the matter had been quickly corrected after the one time he'd attempted to… …_end_ her.

Not one of his finer moments, but perfectly justifiable.

Following that event, he'd become very interested in her, if purely curious because she was something different. Not a human flesh-bag. Not a bijū. But something new. And he'd found that he actually enjoyed the nights that she would visit, whether in silence or not, her presence and company being the first new thing to the seal and his time of imprisonment for over a century.

She was so painfully oblivious to her own emotions.

He'd known even before she recognized it that she was coming into the seal in order to help her cope with the revelations she was having. It was an escape, a refuge where she didn't need to confront it, where she wasn't forced to recognize it. She could just _be_.

And then… and then she had managed to surprise him completely. She had offered to free his Yin half. And perhaps even more telling, she'd not asked for anything in return. She was desperate for someone to understand and accept, and she'd decided that _he_, the _Kyūbi no Yōko_, strongest of the bijū, would be that someone.

It was… humbling.

An eternity of being seen as nothing more than a force of nature, a monster, a terror (not that he minded those titles, they were true, after all), and then this small, deceptively normal-looking girl recognized him as a person. And for the first time he could remember, he felt hope.

The days were no longer indiscernible, flowing together, because each one contained their conversations and her visits to the seal. Each one had something new.

Each one had become something to look forward to.

* * *

**Ten years ago, Tanzaku Gai**

She came to on something softer than the hard, compact dirt she'd slept on for the past few weeks. Blinking, she slowly realized that _no_, she couldn't see the sky. It was hidden by the presence of a grayish ceiling with cracks that ran in spiderwebs across the plaster.

The room was lit by a singular opening in one of the walls, dim sunlight spilling through to land on a different part of the floor than she was on. It was far from the opening, which meant it had to be late in the day, based on the color of the light.

_Thirsty._

Her throat felt like it was full of cotton, a desert without any water, and she tried to swallow instinctively to wash some amount of saliva down her throat and give her relief, but Tayuya found she couldn't even do that.

"Water," she croaked out hoarsely. "Need… water."

The door in her vision was beginning to split in two, wavering in front of her eyes.

And then it opened.

"Oh, shit!"

A blob rushed towards her, holding out another blob that was pushed towards her face. Sweet liquid trickled down her throat, and she greedily swallowed it, continuing until she felt like she would burst, rivulets running down her chin.

"Hey, hey. Slow down. You don' wanna make yourself sick for fuck's sake."

Her head gradually began to clear as the liquid was quickly absorbed into her bloodstream, easing the headache and making everything move back together so there were no longer any doubles.

A boy with dark green eyes was sitting cross-legged next to her, holding a canteen.

Tayuya blinked, trying to take in everything around her.

"Feelin' a bit better?"

She nodded slightly, her muscles protesting at the action.

The boy smiled, revealing a grin with missing teeth. "'S good." He pointed to himself with a thumb. "I'm Shintaro. What's your name?"

"Ta-tayuya," she whispered.

His smile widened. "That's a nice name. What's someone like you doin' on the streets?"

"I-I don't know. I was with a lady in a house… but… but she's gone and now I'm not? They said she was gone for good. A nice man in a cart brought me here," she said haltingly.

"Oh." The boy's smile shrunk. "Tayuya-chan, I don't think that was a very nice guy."

She tilted her head in confusion. "He wasn't?"

Shintaro shook his head. "How old are ya?"

Tayuya made a thoughtful face, her eyebrows scrunching together cutely. "Eight?" She nodded in conviction to herself. "Gotta be eight. That's what she said."

"How come you ain't sure?"

"U-um. I can't remember. Can't remember before the lady. I wasn't with her very long…"

The boy frowned. "You really can't remember nothing?"

The young redheaded girl shook her head. "Nothing. I'm sorry. Is that bad?"

"Nah. Just…" Shintaro smirked, ruffling her hair. "Don't worry about it. It's nothin'."

Tayuya frowned at the boy in indignation, smoothing her hair out.

"I'm twelve. Been here since…" Shintaro trailed off. "Never mind. You were gonna die, you know that?"

She shook her head slowly, eyes wide.

"Well, maybe not for awhile," he admitted, "but you were gettin' there. You aren't anymore. Just… you gotta drink somethin', or you're gonna dry up. And that ain't fun, trust me."

Tayuya nodded, accepting the boy's advice. After all, he was _twelve_.

"Where… where are we?" she asked, now that her head was slowly beginning to clear.

"The akasen. Red light district. 'S the safest fuckin' place for kids like us," he answered. "Anywhere else and, well, bad shit can happen to you."

"…oh."

He nodded. "Don't worry about it, Aka-chan," Tayuya puffed out her cheeks indignantly at the nickname before realizing he was referring to her hair and not calling her a baby like she'd first assumed. "I'll make sure that don't happen to you. Saved your life, so you owe me, yeah?" She thought about it, then nodded in agreement. It made sense. "Well, first thing you can do as a favor to me is learn how to not get yourself fuckin' killed."

"…okay," she agreed, and then yawned widely.

"Great! Now, don't worry about nothin' and get some sleep. I'll get us some food for tonight."

Tayuya didn't respond, only allowing her eyes to droop closed as she quickly fell asleep.

* * *

**Present-day, Unknown**

Tayuya was so close to having another panic attack it wasn't even funny.

Guren. Orochimaru. Her chakra fucking _sealed_. No Kurama in the back of her mind.

She was on her own, and so deep in the proverbial shithole that she couldn't even see the surface.

The only thing that gave her consolation was that she knew _for a __**fact**_ that her healing and immunity to pain worked independently of her chakra, as proven by Nagato's damn chakra-sucking trick.

But physical torture wasn't the only type available to the fucking snake, and as proven by Itachi _damn_ Uchiha, psychological torture could work just as well, if not better.

Seals on her body were evidently as effective as they had when she was alive, and that meant that he could re-apply his mind-manipulating jūinjutsu.

Just, _fucking __**hell**_.

Gods she wished Fuu were here. The jinchūriki would have been able to break out of this cell even without hers or Chōmei's chakra. She was just an absolute powerhouse like that.

_Tayuya_, on the other hand, was still weak in comparison, only about Naruto's strength, which was that of a 13-year-old chūnin, even with all of the training they'd been doing.

That had been one of the weirder discoveries they'd made.

Her body couldn't be harmed. It couldn't be degraded. But, it could still be altered, just so long as those alterations were improvements on what she already had.

Her hair, when grown out using one of Jiraiya's jutsu, stayed that way. And similarly, any muscle that she managed to slowly build up through strength training (because endurance training did absolute shit for her), would stay as it was.

And they had also discovered that seals apparently still worked. Which meant that _possibly_, considering what Kurama wanted, she might be able to seal his Yin half in herself, since she had doubts of Naruto's eight-trigrams seal being able to handle the combined pressure of the entirety of Kurama.

The nine-tailed fox's chakra levels were literally astronomical.

Naruto's mother had reportedly able to handle it, but she had also been a full blooded Uzumaki, not a half like Naruto and herself. Plus, as the bloodline she had gotten from her mother's side was all about Yin chakra manipulation, it was very likely that she and Yin-Kurama would be highly compatible.

She didn't know how a seal containing him would interact with her lack of chakra reserves, but it would more than likely simply integrate into her chakra network as Naruto's did, augmenting whatever the fuck gave Tayuya her chakra.

Things to think about.

Now, though, she had to deal with this shit with Guren and Orochimaru. Tayuya shuddered.

She'd been in this fucking cell for what she figured was at least a day, as they'd delivered four measly meals to her, all of which she'd refrained from eating. Being able to go without eating or drinking definitely had its benefits in a prison environment with utterly shitty food and water.

It was also possibly a demoralizing tactic, and there was no guarantee there weren't any drugs in them. Tayuya had no idea what how her weird-as-fuck body would react to foreign substances like that. Plus, she didn't trust Guren as far as she could throw her when it came to Orochimaru.

As much as they'd been friends with each other during Tayuya's time under the fucking snake –after all, they were really the only two females he trusted and had been in training together–, Guren was blindly devoted to him like some kind of cultist.

… Kind of like that 'Jashin' asshole, Hidan, now that she thought about it.

Guren didn't even need a cursed seal, she was just _that_ enamored and dedicated.

Just her fucking luck that Tayuya had run into her in the one place that was supposed to have nobody around.

If Tayuya had her chakra, she might actually present a good opponent for the Shōton-user, as sound was one of the extremely few weaknesses Guren's crystal actually had. She knew it well, since she'd actually helped the other woman with trying to get rid of that particular weakness.

Of course, if she had her fucking chakra, she could just signal Kurama, who could tell Naruto and Jiraiya.

She had no doubts that Naruto would go all rage-kyūbi on their asses.

Tayuya angrily brought her fist down on the stone floor and heard more than felt her fingers breaking before they healed instantly.

She fucking hated this. _Hated_ it. She hated feeling weak. Powerless. It was one of the prime reasons she had joined the kami-damned snake. He had promised her power, power so that nothing like what had happened to her could happen again, and here she was, in the very same _fucking_ place.

Tayuya tried to stay angry, but her anger quickly slipped away, back into the sucking pit of anxiety she'd been feeling before.

She was scared.

It was a rational reaction, she tried to reason. A tokubetsu-jonin level ninja against a Sannin?

Ha. Good fucking luck. There was a higher chance of Izanami leaving Yomi and joining the rest of the Kami in Takamagahara than Tayuya defeating her old master.

Tayuya shuddered, trying to push away the disgusting feelings she had, thinking about him making her submit, twisting her mind again so that she _wanted_ to be with him, reapplying her cursed seal.

And he _would_, she had no doubt.

Tayuya was brought out of her depressing thoughts by the noise of scraping metal, and then her cell door opening. Guren stood in the doorway, looking down at her, her eyes as hard as ever.

The redhead sighed despondently, resigned to whatever was about to happen.

"Get up, Tayuya," Guren ordered.

Tayuya obeyed, if shakily, her nerves and anxiety manifesting as strongly as ever. Guren walked around her, grabbing her arms harshly and bringing them behind her back, and then creating shackles made of her crystal to hold the Uzumaki's wrists together.

_Damn, she really thought of everything._

Gripping Tayuya's right upper arm strongly, Guren forcibly pushed her forwards towards the door.

"What, not going to blindfold me, too?" Tayuya asked sarcastically, attempting to mask her overwhelming dejection.

"There's no point. It's not like you'll ever be coming back, even if you manage to find this place," the shōton-user responded coldly, not even looking at her.

They walked down a stone hallway turning left and right a few times, Tayuya's bare feet picking up dust and dirt from the floor. Eventually, they came to a door set in the grey wall, Guren reaching out and opening it, revealing an underground dock and boat-launch.

"Just, just… godsdamnit Guren, I wish you'd stop deluding yourself. All working under the fucking snake is going to do is get you an early death. I know you don't care about your life, but that doesn't mean others don't," Tayuya said as they walked down the wooden dock to the moderately-sized ship.

The blue-haired woman glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes. "I don't need anybody else. All I need is Orochimaru-sama."

Tayuya turned her head to look at the other woman, surprising herself by actually feeling sorry for the other girl. "Fuck. You can't even see what he's done to you, can you?"

"He has done nothing but give me everything I've wanted," Guren replied sharply.

"That's not necessarily a good thing! If you had some fucking kid, you wouldn't give it everything it wanted, because some of the shit it wants may be bad for it!"

Guren glared at her. "I am not a child."

Tayuya snorted. "Obviously. But you were what, thirteen when he got to you? You were a kid. Just like me. And the snake isn't exactly a paragon of honor and selflessness. He stuck a fucking inhibition seal on my mind after promising not to do anything to me that would fuck me up! I gave myself to him willingly because he made that promise! And. He. _Broke_. _**It**_!"

The shōton-user's face remained stony, but Tayuya could tell there were roiling thoughts and emotions going through her head.

Unfortunately, they reached the boat, and Guren pushed her roughly onto it, forcing her down stairs into the hold, where a collection of tiny metal cells sat, most of them already with people in them. Tayuya was forced towards an open one, and then the door clanged shut with a certain finality, the redhead turning around and seeing Guren looking at her with… something in her eyes. But then they hardened, and the blue-haired woman turned away, leaving Tayuya looking down at the ground, her hair hanging messily in front of her face toward the grou–

The blood in Tayuya's veins froze, and she hastily moved her right arm so she could see her wrist.

Where there was nothing.

_Nononononono._

"GURENNN!"

The woman halted, her foot on the first step up to the upper deck. It might have been the sheer desperation in Tayuya's voice, the amount of pain and anguish that even caught the attention of the other prisoners, but Guren turned to look at her.

"The bracelet. And, and the clips. Please. _Please._ Don't…" Tayuya felt tears in her eyes. "I _need_ it. I can't… I _can't_… They were _hers_," she rushed out hysterically.

Guren looked at her in confusion, thrown completely off by her sudden change in demeanor. Her eyebrows scrunched together, and she took a single step towards Tayuya.

"_**Please**_," the Uzumaki pleaded. "If any of it meant _anything_ to you. _Please._"

Something in Guren's expression changed, and she took another step towards her.

Tayuya took that as a sign to continue. "I swear, I swear on all the Kamis, I won't try anything. I just… I just _need_ them," she finished, emotion thick in her throat, tears beginning to gather at the corners of her eyes.

The shōton-user began walking back to her, reaching into her green kimono top and pulling out something. "Turn around," she told her.

The redhead complied immediately. She felt the cuffs melt away, and then something slip onto her wrist, the crystal immediately replaced. Tayuya turned, Guren's hands slipping through the cross-hatch metal bars towards her face, pushing the hair in front of her nose and eye to the right and forcing cool metal down. Tayuya breathed a sigh of relief when she felt the _click_ of the clips snapping into place.

Guren stepped back, looking at her.

"Thank you," Tayuya whispered reverently.

Guren's face flickered, and then she looked away. "I'm sorry."

And then the woman turned and walked away, moving out of the hold as quickly as possible.

* * *

**Ten years ago, Tanzaku Gai**

"But… isn't it wrong?"

Shintaro looked at her sadly. "If you don't, you're not gonna have anything to eat. Rules like that ain't for people like us. We gotta do everything we can to survive, you understand?"

Tayuya fidgited, looking down at the ground, and mumbled something.

"What?"

"I don't like it," she repeated, clearer.

"You don't gotta like it, you just gotta fuckin' _do_ it. I don't like it either, but it's what we've got to do," he told her. "C'mon. The sooner we do it, the sooner we get to eat."

The boy turned to the right, looking around the building corner of the alley they stood in. "Just follow me, 'kay?"

Tayuya nodded soundlessly.

He took a step out, walking through the crowds towards the fruit vendor a few stalls down. The redhead Uzumaki trailed behind him as they slipped between people. Shintaro got there first, and Tayuya didn't even see anything happen, the boy not even pausing. At the end of the street they turned right, hurrying down the emptier street and then turning into another alley on the left.

Shintaro turned around, giving Tayuya a smile. "See? Nothing to it." A pair of apples and three _mikan_, satsuma oranges.

The small girl goggled at the number. How had he even done that?

He held out an apple to her. "Here."

She reached out, gingerly taking it from his hands. The three oranges that he was holding went in his pockets. Shintaro raised the other red and yellow apple to his mouth, taking a bite with a sharp _crunch_ behind it.

He chewed and swallowed, motioning at Tayuya. "Go on. Eat it."

The girl looked at it, slowly raising it to her mouth and taking a small bite.

Her eyes went wide.

The boy grinned. "Good, huh?"

She nodded, quickly taking another bite, a trail of juice leaking out of the corner of her mouth.

"So, you wanna learn how to do it? You could probably be a good distraction. Stall-people love cute girls like you."

Tayuya tilted her head, and then nodded slowly. If this was what they had to do in order to eat, then she had to help or she'd start feeling bad about it. She never wanted to be weak like she'd been again. She wanted to be like Shintaro, strong and able to take care of herself.

"Great! I'll start showin' you stuff tomorrow, 'kay?"

She nodded again.

"You know," Shintaro smiled, "for some reason, I gotta good feeling about this."

* * *

**Present Day, Unknown**

Tayuya sat at the back of her cell, having managed to work her arms around to her front from underneath her, despite the manacles.

The other prisoners were much the same: helpless resignation to their fates. A few were scowling, and Tayuya knew they were keeping their wits.

Too bad they wouldn't keep them for long once they met Orochimaru.

"So wha' the fuck are you here for, girl? That lady didn' come down here for nothin' normally."

Tayuya blinked, and then looked in the direction of the voice. A man sat in a cell to the right of the one in front of her, staring at her. She sighed, debating if she really wanted to engage him, and then decided that it was better than the uncomfortable silence.

"I got away."

"Wha' the fuck do you mean?"

"From Orochimaru. I was one of his lieutenants. The Sound Five. Well, more the Four after the pasty asshole told us he was dying. And then I wised up and decided to get the fuck out while I still had my head."

The other prisoners stirred, looking at her in curiosity.

Tayuya laughed under her breath mirthlessly. "Should've known that he'd get me back eventually. At least I got the time away from the bastard I did. Almost been a fucking year."

She looked up at the man. "He doesn't play well with others, and likes keeping his toys close. I've got no fucking idea what he's going to do to me for escaping, but I can tell you one thing: it isn't going to be fun."

The man nodded slowly in acceptance. "You got anythin' else you can tell us then?"

The redhead shrugged. "We're all fucked. If you want to live, try to convince him that your worth something more that way. Otherwise you'll end up as just another experiment. And let me tell you right now so you can get something straight. I've done that shit to people like you. You don't get anesthesia. You guys _scream._"

A few of the other people in the hold looked disturbed and upset, one girl breaking down into tears, while the man looked like he'd swallowed something sour. "What's your name, girl?"

"Tayuya," she told him. "Tayuya Yakin-Uzumaki."

His eyes widened. "Those names… I haven't heard those clan names in _years_. Decades."

She just nodded.

"Can't you get us out of here somehow then? If you're some kinda ninja?"

Tayuya shook her head. "My chakra's sealed, probably same as most or all of you. I can't do shit. These cages are highly reinforced steel. Probably with some kind of seal strengthening them even further."

"Fuck."

"Yeah, that about sums it up," she agreed.

"Hey, you fuckers! Shut up down there or I'll shut you up myself!" a man yelled, looking down through the hatch at the top of the stairs.

Tayuya and the man fell quiet, the redhead returning to her brooding thoughts.

* * *

**Nine and a half years ago, Tanzaku Gai**

"'Taro?"

Tayuya looked around the abandoned home they'd been staying in. She hadn't seen him in a while and was starting to get worried. "'Taro?"

He wasn't there, so she went outside and started looking in all the alleys where he usually went. "'Taro?"

Finally, she saw something in one of them, near the back. Something that wasn't the size of all the homeless men and bums. "'Taro?"

She walked towards the shape. And then recoiled.

Her friend was there, slumped against the wall.

His eyes were like glass. Blood had dripped all over the ground, coming from a gash in his shirt. On the wall behind him, over his left shoulder, read one word, painted in dried crimson.

'Sorry.'

Tears started welling up in her eyes, and she turned around, running out of the alley as fast as she could and back to the house. By the time she was there, they flowed freely.

She'd known other boys that had ended up getting caught stealing on the streets and then disappeared, sometimes their bodies found days later, but she… she never thought it would happen to _them_.

Tayuya whimpered, hugging herself as she cried for what felt like hours. It hurt. And now she was alone again. All alone. Maybe if she'd been with him…

But no, she knew that if she had, she'd be just as dead as he was.

Why? _Why?_

He'd been so nice to her when he'd had no reason to be. Her first friend. A-and now…

She swallowed heavily. She had to get stronger. Had to be _better_. She couldn't let that happen to her. She _had_ to survive. 'Cause he would have wanted her to live.

And so Tayuya swore on his blood, on his death, that she would get as strong as she had to be to stop it. Strong enough that nobody would ever mess with her again.

Because that's what he would have wanted.

* * *

**Present Day, Uzu no Kuni**

Tayuya-nee had been missing for almost a day. At first, they'd just thought she'd gone off by herself and wanted to be left alone, but now Naruto was starting to get worried.

'…**Boy.**'

Naruto's head snapped up, looking around. He'd heard a low voice.

'**Boy!**'

He blinked. He hadn't heard it, it was in his head. The fox? The dumb fox had never tried to talk to him before.

'**Yes, it's me, you stupid meat-bag.**'

'_Hey!_'

'**Something happened to the girl. I don't know what, all I know was that I felt a burst of malice towards her and then she disappeared.**'

'_What?_'

'**She's gone, you blonde idiot. I can't reach her at all. It's like she disappeared, and that should be impossible with the way we are connected. And I doubt that she is the cause.**'

'_So what're you trying to say?_'

There was a low, irritated sigh. '**Go get that perverted sage, and start looking for her. I don't know where she went, but it couldn't have been very far, since she disappeared only forty minutes after leaving.**'

'_Umm… alright._' Normally he wouldn't listen to anything the stupid rabbit-fox said, but it was being almost nice for once and sounded… worried.

Naruto started running back to their camp, where Ero-sennin was working on his sealing stuff.

After a couple minutes, he arrived at the small clearing. "Hey Ero-sennin!"

The white-haired man looked up from his place sitting on a log. "What is it?"

"The dumb fox says that something's wrong with Tayuya-nee. That he can't talk to her anymore."

'**Tell him that our connection is still there, but dead.**'

"Um… he says that the connection they've got is still there, but it's like it's dead," Naruto repeated.

The sage frowned. "That's not good."

"He says he thinks she's missing."

'**Someone attacked her.**'

"Like someone attacked her or something," the boy echoed.

A hard look appeared on the Sannin's face, and he stood up, tucking away the scroll he'd been looking at inside his vest. "There shouldn't be anyone else on this island. If someone attacked her and managed to get to her… Naruto, start packing up, it sounds like we're going to have to start looking."

The blonde nodded, going over to his sleeping stuff and beginning to break it down. He finished quickly, and then realized that Tayuya's stuff was still there too. Including her red tube.

She'd never leave that behind. Something was definitely going on. He hoped she wouldn't mind him carrying it.

Naruto packed her things up too, figuring out how to put everything –including his own pack– in her giant scroll from watching so many times. Once he was done, he struggled for a moment to get it on, and then looked over at his teacher once he'd managed it.

"Ready!"

Jiraiya nodded. "We'll head south, since that was the direction she left in, and then begin a sweeping search pattern. Let's go."

The man began moving in that direction, and Naruto dutifully followed.

* * *

**Eight years ago, Tanzaku Gai**

She stood at the corner, humming, staring directly at the shopkeeper's position. Nori and Kenta were inside, quickly filling their pockets with items while the man was distracted by her.

As soon as they were out, Tayuya stopped humming, and the shopkeeper blinked, shaking his head momentarily, and then went back to sweeping the floor.

"That's quite the talent you have there."

Tayuya jumped and spun around, looking for the person who'd spoken. All she saw was a waist, so she looked up. An extremely pale man with marks around slit golden eyes was looking down at her.

"You don't even know exactly what you're doing, do you?" he asked.

Tayuya's eyebrows scrunched together. What was he talking about?

"The sounds you make. You are casting a directed illusion solely through auditory perception. Very, _very_ impressive for someone with no training. It would appear your chakra is already unlocked as well. Curious."

"Who the fuck're you supposed to be?" she snapped.

The man crouched down, looking her in the eyes, and Tayuya had to stop herself from recoiling at the sudden discomfort she felt from his piercing stare. "I suppose I should introduce myself, hm? My name is Orochimaru. I am a ninja. I'm looking for interesting people who might want to join me in creating a new hidden village. And you, child, are very interesting indeed."

"And why the fuck would I want to go anywhere with you?" Tayuya questioned.

The man chuckled, a slight hissing sound behind it, making her want to shiver. "You would be trained. Have a chance at something… more than just living on the streets. Fresh food and water, a place to sleep. They could be yours, if you prove yourself."

Tayuya frowned. It sounded too good to be true.

"I'm not deceiving you," the man said. "You are… interesting enough that I am willing to give you some time to make your decision. If you decide to join me, I will be here in three days time."

With no other words, he stood up and turned around, walking away and disappearing into the crowd, leaving Tayuya scowling at the place he'd been standing.

"Who was that?"

Tayuya turned around, looking at the girl and boy who stood about her height. Kenta had been the one who'd spoken.

"I don't fucking know, dickhead. Some ninja asshole. Said his name was Orochimaru."

Kenta looked confused, while Nori's eyes widened, and she swallowed. "Y-you should do what he says."

"What? Why the fuck should I?"

The singular boy looked over at Nori while she responded. "Because he's one of the _Sannin_."

"Three ninja? What does three ninja have to do with anything?" Kenta echoed.

"Not san-nin. _Sannin_. The ones who went to Ame and… and killed all of them. In the second war."

"How the fuck do you know all this?" Tayuya asked.

Nori looked away. "Because ninja are cool and I ask the ladies to tell me stories. They tell me the stories that their _okyakusan_ tell them."

The prostitutes. The girls who decided that a life like that was better than a life on the streets. Even then, some of them still ended up there anyways.

Also the best source for gossip, but Tayuya didn't give a shit about that kind of stuff.

"So this guy's pretty fuckin' dangerous, then."

Nori nodded. "A-and he was talking to _you_. What did he want?"

"To join some kind of stupid-ass hidden village he's making. Said he was interested in that thing I do." Nori's eyes widened even more, and Tayuya had a feeling she knew what the other girl was going to say.

"You could be a _ninja_!? You _have_ to! Imagine what you could _do_!"

Kenta nodded. "You should do it. Get… get out of here."

He sounded slightly jealous, but hid it well.

The redhead chewed on her lip. "I've got to think about it. It's not the sort of fucking decision you make in an hour, you know?" Although she got the sense that Nori would have agreed immediately. "C'mon, let's get back to the others."

* * *

**Present Day, Uzu no Kuni**

'**Stop**'

'_What?_'

'**I said STOP, boy!**'

Naruto halted. '_Why?_'

'**There's something here. Underneath here. I can sense people in the area.**'

The blonde blinked, and then looked ahead at the white-haired man who was still moving ahead in front of him. "Ero-sennin!"

The sage stopped, turning around and looking back. "What?"

"The dumb fox says there're people here."

'**Underground.**'

"Underground!"

They were near the edge of the coast, thirty minutes south of where they'd been holding camp. It had been two hours of searching so far, and it was a good sign that they'd been able to find something so quickly.

Jiraiya returned to where Naruto was. "Underground, huh?"

The boy nodded. "That's what it said."

"I haven't seen any entrances or tunnels…" the sage said. He grinned with just an edge of gleefulness. "Well, let's just fix that problem, shall we?"

Making a sequence of hand-signs, he suddenly stomped with his right foot. The ground where he'd placed his foot split forwards, breaking apart until there was a five-foot gap thirty feet long.

At the middle of the gap, there was what appeared to be a seven-foot wide tunnel running diagonally.

"Bingo," Jiraiya gloated. "Hah! I've still got it."

Naruto wasted no time, running over to the hole and jumping down into it, looking around. The older man followed behind him, landing softly at his side.

"Hm… forward, or backwards?" Jiraiya asked.

'**Forwards.**'

"Forwards," Naruto stated, and then took off at a cautious pace, moving quickly but not so fast that he was making any loud sounds. The pair of ninja soon came to a T-branch.

'**Right.**'

Naruto nodded, and headed in the direction he'd been told. Suddenly, the tunnel widened, opening into a room.

There were a number of scrolls and tools on the walls, a stack of shuriken on a table.

"Looks like we have some unexpected visi…" The two ninja looked in the direction of the voice, where a blue-haired girl stood in another entrance-way. Her eyes widened as she saw Jiraiya. "Shit!"

Almost immediately, she turned and started running away. The pair looked at each other for a second, and then took after her. Jiraiya was closing in when the girl touched the wall on her right, and pink crystal exploded out of it, blocking the way.

Naruto saw Jiraiya's eyes narrow, and he didn't even have time to say anything before a Rasengan was in the older man's hand, grinding and breaking through the barrier like it wasn't even there.

The girl looked over her shoulder and then sped up when she saw that her attempt to slow them down hadn't done anything. Looking over at Naruto, and then back at the girl, Jiraiya's jaw set, and he _really_ started running, catching up with the girl within seconds and pressing her to the ground with a hand on her back, crouching next to her as he held her there.

Naruto caught up a few seconds later. "Why'd you let her run if you coulda done that?"

Jiraiya looked up from where he was, binding the girl's wrists with a piece of rope he'd pulled from his vest. "I wanted to see what she would try and do. Always try to learn what your enemy's capable of. Gather information at every possibility."

The blonde nodded in understanding.

Jiraiya pulled the blue-haired girl up from where she was. A deep scowl sat on her face. "So, why'd you run, girl?"

"What, like I _wouldn't_ if one of the Sannin randomly showed up?" the girl answered angrily.

"Fair point," Jiraiya conceded. "Now, I think the brat here has something he wants to ask you."

"What'd you do with Tayuya-nee, you, you stupid bitch!?" Naruto yelled.

She stared at him in shock, and then started laughing. At least until Jiraiya pushed her shoulder up against the wall again.

The girl swallowed, looking at the sage. "R-right. Just… I couldn't ever imagine anyone calling her 'sister' and getting away with it."

"You do know her!" Naruto said, pointing at her accusingly.

The blue-haired girl blew a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Yeah, I know her. We were friends…" A distant look came over her eyes. The girl blinked, refocusing. "But then she left."

Jiraiya's face hardened. "You're with Orochimaru." It wasn't a question.

The girl smiled happily in response at the name, while the blood drained from Naruto's face.

"What'd you do with her!?"

She scoffed. "Sent her back. She'll be where she should be soon enough."

The frown on the sage's face deepened. "I _highly_ suggest you explain what you're saying if you're particularly fond of your limbs. She's the closest family he has, and I've come to like the little spitfire quite a bit as well."

'**She grows on you like a fungus.**'

Naruto snorted, completely destroying the serious atmosphere as both looked at him. He flushed. "O-oh, um. The fox made a joke. He said she grows on you like a fungus."

The blue-haired girl looked between them. "Yes. She does, doesn't she?"

"So what exactly did you do with her?" Jiraiya asked. "_Exactly,_" he emphasized.

The girl's jaw clenched, and then relaxed as she sighed. "It's too late for you. She's already on her way back to Orochimaru-sama with the rest of the bloodline samples this month."

"WHAT!?" Naruto yelled. "You, you sent her back to that stupid, evil snake-faced bastard!?"

The blue-haired girl glared at him. "Don't talk about Orochimaru-sama that way, you brat." Her tone was scathing, filled with respect when she said the other Sannin's name.

"No, I agree. I think that's pretty accurate," Jiraiya said. "And I should know, since I was on the same team with him."

The girl looked back at the older man, and seemed to remember exactly _who_ was in front of her, her face whitening slightly as she pursed her lips.

"So. Tell me where they're headed–"

"Never!" she denied.

"You _really_ don't want to do this, girl. I've never liked torture, and _I_ really don't want to break my ten-year streak for someone like you."

"Please! She's my nee-san!" Naruto pleaded.

The girl looked at him in confusion. "She doesn't have any brothers. I should know, I was with her since the beginning. She would've told me."

"She's my cousin! And that's as good as!" the blonde declared with finality.

"Cousin?"

He nodded seriously. "And she's the only family I've got. I only just found her. So you've gotta tell us!" The girl's eyes showed a hint of indecision from their previously crystal-hard state, and Naruto could see her resolve beginning to waver. "Isn't Tayuya-nee your friend?"

She nodded. "She… was."

Naruto shook his head. "You don't un-make friends. Friends are friends for good. …Even if they're stupid duck-ass teme who try to push try to push you away."

The girl looked confused. "But…"

"Nope!" Naruto denied. "That's how it works."

She looked like she was wavering on an edge.

"_Please_. We'll even let you come with us! Don't you care at all!?"

Jiraiya glanced over at Naruto sharply, before turning and staring at the blue-haired girl. She withered at the look in his eyes, and her own face shifted into an expression of resignation. "An island. In the Hanguri Gulf. They're going there by boat. Taking the channel through Fire. They've been gone over eight hours. There's no way you can catch up."

"That's alright! Tayuya-nee'll be fine! You'll see!" The blue-haired girl looked confused at his absolute surety, but didn't say anything.

Jiraiya stood up, pulling the girl with him. "Come on. I guess you're coming with us to make sure you aren't lying or try to pull anything."

Her shoulders slumped, knowing she had no chance against the much older and more experienced shinobi. "Fine."

Naruto nodded. "Let's go! No time to waste!"

He turned around heading in the direction of the hole they'd come from, the other two trailing behind him.

* * *

**Seven years ago, Ta no Kuni (Rice Country)**

Tayuya stood at the edge of the arena that held twenty-four other kids of various ages around her, from eight to fourteen or fifteen.

Some she knew and recognized, but only vaguely. You didn't make friends here.

"Begin!"

The voice came from nowhere, but echoed through the dark stone chamber harshly. Instantly, everyone was fighting.

Tayuya had pressed herself against the wall, and for the moment was managing to evade any interest, at least until a boy ran towards her.

He was a few inches taller than her, and completely uncoordinated. How the fuck had he managed to get this far?

Tayuya sidestepped him, hooking ankles and tripping the boy. His eyes widened, but that was all he managed before gravity drove him down right on top of her kunai, impaling him through the bottom of his mouth and up into his brain.

He was dead before he even knew what he'd done wrong.

Pushing him to the side and pulling her knife out of his skull with the feel of metal scraping on bone, Tayuya stepped back against the wall again. The boy's blood splattered across her legs, leaving them warm.

_All these stupid assholes. They don't even know what's coming._

It was pathetic. _They_ were pathetic. Good-for-nothing. _Trash._

And she'd show them exactly what they were good for.

"_A ga maeba~_"_ (When I danced)_

Step forward, pierce kunai through a boy's blue eye into his brain. Pull out, flick off vitreous humour. Turn around, stab into second boy's jugular. Pull forward, tear out carotid.

"_kuwashime, yoinikeri._"_ (the lady grew enchanted)_

Hot blood splashed against her face and front.

Step. Twist around larger boy, stab in kidney, kidney, throat. Kick girl's legs out from under her, kunai through temple. Stab heart through boy's third and fourth ribs.

Everyone around her was slowing, their movements becoming drunken and lethargic, victims of her auditory genjutsu. It was a sad fact, but none of them knew enough to dispel her illusion, not that it would matter anyways, as they would just be caught in it again with the force and layering she was putting into the song. Singing with her voice was seriously overkill –simply whistling would have done the job–, and not something she would normally do, but this was the last thing the poor bastards would ever hear.

"_A ga maeba~_"_ (When I danced)_

Step. Duck, lunge, stab, slice femoral artery. Step. Jump, reach, impale, hook around and rip out larynx.

"_terutsuki, toyomunari._"_ (the shining moon echoed)_

Reach around head, snap cervical vertebrae. Shatter kneecaps, impale forehead on fall. Stab liver, kidney, stomach, back of head.

"_Yobai ni,_"_ (For marriage/the night)_

Pull back head, slice neck, spilling a boy's blood on the floor. Chakra-enhanced strike to a ribcage, collapsing bones into a girl's chest, red liquid spraying out of her mouth onto Tayuya's front.

"_kami, amakudarite._"_ (the gods descend from the heavens)_

Slice knives across neck in opposite directions. Turn around, push kunai up to hilt in next boy's heart.

"_Yowa ake,_"_ (The night's dawn approaches)_

Kunai through crown of head. Jump over fallen body, reach forward, remove throat.

"_nuedori naku._"_ (as the thrush sings)_

Stab chest. Twist, thrust, slice through jugular and carotid. The body fell with a dull _thud_.

And Tayuya was left standing, alone.

"_Toh kami, emi tame._"_ (May the distant gods bless us),_ she finished, her words echoing in the now-silent chamber.

At the center of her own personal massacre.

Tayuya's skin was soaked with warm blood, red and sticky. The rest of the liquid ran over the cement floor, flowing sluggishly towards channels and grates where a constant _drip, drip, drip_ could be heard.

There was a clapping sound behind her, and the young redhead whirled around.

"Any particular reason why a wedding song?"

Tayuya spat to the side of her, a glob of red, bloody saliva flying away from her. She wiped at her mouth with her forearm, but only succeeded in spreading more of the blood across her face.

Tossing the two kunai on the floor with a clatter, she started walking towards the pale-skinned man who stood in the door.

"Seemed fuckin' right, since they're never going to get one."

She pushed a body out of the way to her right with her foot and then continued forward.

"Kukukuku. You have quite the morbid sense of humor, don't you, Tayuya-chan?"

The twelve-year old girl frowned as she neared the man. "I guess."

She turned around, taking in all of the dead bodies in the room. "I killed everyone else, can I eat now, Orochimaru-sama?" Tayuya asked, looking back up at him.

The man stared down at her. "You did quite well. Very efficient." He paused. "Yes. Very well."

Orochimaru turned around, waving dismissively at a man in the hallway behind them. "Take her to where she can eat."

"Thank you, Orochimaru-sama!" Tayuya ran to the other man, bloody sandal-prints marking her trail.

She'd initially held doubts about the Sannin, but they were quickly soothed and ameliorated when she realized she was only one of many. _And_ one of the few he favored. She was treated well here.

The trip to the mess hall was short, only five or so minutes through the twisting tunnels, and then the two arrived at a larger room with various tables. There were other people there, eating mostly in silence, although there were some pockets of conversation throughout the room.

Hurrying over to the place food was being dispersed, the person who gave her a simple bowl of soup frowned at her bloody state, but said nothing. At the tap where they could get water, Tayuya placed her large bowl to the side on a ledge, and splashed water on her face and hands, removing the majority of the blood and leaving only a faint residue behind that a couple seconds of scrubbing took care of. It did nothing for the rest of her arms or body, though.

Done with cleaning herself up –at least for the moment–, she looked over the room, and spotting a swatch of a specific shade of blue hair, meandered in that direction with her food.

Setting her food down at the table, she sat down heavily across from the other girl.

"Hey Ren!"

Guren looked up. "Hello, Tayuya." She looked over the girl's blood-stained clothes. "I assume you had one of your final matches today."

The redhead nodded. "Yeah, it was fuckin' easy."

Typically, as the two of them were in the same age group they wouldn't talk to each other since there was a distinct chance of having to kill each other at some point in the future, and interpersonal relationships only made that harder. But Guren wasn't in the same competition-thing that Tayuya was, as Orochimaru-sama had already decided she was good enough, especially with her Shōton kekkei genkai. Something to do with killing an entire village.

"You are skilled, it isn't so surprising," the blue-haired girl commented.

Tayuya snorted. "It was pathetic really. I felt sorry for the poor bastards."

Guren nodded as the redhead started eating her food. "Orochimaru-sama has said only good things of your abilities. I wouldn't be surprised if you finish near the top."

"Thanks, Ren," Tayuya told her sincerely. Those words actually meant something coming from someone as skilled as Guren was. The girls continued eating in thought before pausing, "Where do you think I'm gonna end up?"

Guren thought over the question. "I don't know. I am currently running missions for Orochimaru-sama personally. It's likely you'll be in a similar position. Likely as part of a team considering your specialty."

Tayuya nodded. "Makes sense. Just hope I don't get stuck with some assholes for teammates."

"I'm sure you can work it out."

The redhead shrugged. "Yeah, you're right. If they're really that bad I'll just say 'fuck it' and tell 'em where they can shove their tiny limp dicks. I only gotta deal with them for missions, right?"

Guren sighed. "You _could_ try…"

"Pft. Fuck that. I'd rather be hang around with you than some stupid-ass pansy guys."

"…I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not."

Tayuya shrugged again. "Take it however the fuck you want. It's the truth."

Guren smiled. "Well, thanks anyways, Tayuya."

She nodded, slurping some of the noodles in her soup. "'Course Ren. You're the only one who really fuckin' gets this, y'know? All the others are these weak bastards who don't know half about what's really important."

"I suppose."

Tayuya wanted to punch the other girl in the arm playfully, but she was across the table. "Duh. Man, I can't wait until I can see the outside of this place again. It may be a bit of a shithole, but it's not too bad. Still, a girl gets antsy staying all cooped up, you know?"

Guren smiled faintly.

"Yes, I do."

* * *

**Present Day, Uzu no Kuni**

The group had been traveling for only a few hours, Naruto in front and Jiraiya in the back, with "Guren" in the middle. And then they came across a stream, Jiraiya deciding to stop so they could restock their water.

"Soooo, Guren-chan." The blue-hared girl glared at Naruto, very much reminding him of Tayuya at the moment. "Why're you friends with Nee-san?"

Guren's glare softened, if only slightly. "She was the only one. Everyone else kept away from me, but… Tayuya didn't care what they thought. The first time she saw me, she walked up to me and said 'Hey, you look like you're not a fucking loser like the rest of these dickheads.' And then she sat down across from me at the table where I was eating lunch. She was very… blunt."

Naruto nodded in understanding. That really sounded like her.

"Ever since then she just… well, she was the only one who really survived."

"Survive what?" Jiraiya asked, starting to show interest in the conversation.

"The elimination rounds."

"E…limination?" Naruto echoed.

"To see who was worthy of serving Orochimaru-sama, of course," Guren said.

A look of understanding appeared on Jiraiya's face. "Oh."

Naruto looked at him, confused. "What? What's she talking about?"

"Naruto… she had to fight to get where she was. And… she had to kill them. If I know Orochimaru, and gods I wish I didn't, he wouldn't have accepted any less."

The blonde's face drained of blood. "Oh," he said, repeating Jiraiya's previous statement.

Guren nodded. "She's a very good fighter. If I hadn't had the element of surprise, it would have been much harder to capture her. It is why she was chosen to be one of Orochimaru-sama's personal guards."

"Her taijutsu sucks," Jiraiya said bluntly.

The bluenette grimaced. "Well, yes. It was an area she never really had to resort to much. Her skills with illusions… with any sound manipulation, are above any other person I know. But with her chakra sealed, I am surprised you are so sure of her well-being."

Naruto deliberated for a moment, and then blurted. "It's 'cause nothing hurts her."

Guren blinked. "What?"

"If she gets hurt, she heals. Really, _really_ fast."

The girl looked to Jiraiya, who just nodded.

"She can use the Byakugō no In?"

"No," Jiraiya corrected. "It's not Tsunade's seal. It's space-time manipulation. Without chakra."

Guren gaped while Naruto nodded emphatically. "My nee-san is amazing! It's like… zwoop! And then everything's back in place. Less than a second! So we just gotta rescue her, and she'll be alright."

"Orochimaru-sama will find a way around something like that."

Jiraiya shook his head. "No. There's no work around. We thought that it was because of a seal she has, but it's not. She _cannot_ be forcibly harmed and not recover. Even Orochi won't be able to get around it. It… it's unnatural. Almost like a divine gift."

Guren looked unnerved. "How is that even possible?"

"Beats me. All I know is that it's true. She doesn't need to eat, or sleep, or anything. She simply _is_ now. And she can't get hurt."

The blue-haired girl nervously chewed at her lip. "I… I suppose I was very lucky I was able to take her out so quickly then."

Naruto nodded. "Nee-chan is really good at learning jutsu too. She's got these circle-y wind things that she can make go all around her. They're _really_ sharp. And she can make these cool kunai out of ice from nothing!"

Guren blinked, looking even more disturbed. "_Ice!?_"

Jiraiya eyed Naruto, trying to figure out what the blonde was doing by giving away so much of redhead's abilities. "Yeah. She's probably one of the best jutsu users I've seen since Orochi and Minato. Hell, she might eventually get to Sensei's level. And like the kid said, she's even working on recompositions."

Tayuya as good at jutsu as the _Shinobi no Kami!?_

_Just what have you been getting up to, Aka? Dear kami, I really was lucky I didn't have to face you head-on, wasn't I?_

Without her chakra sealed, Tayuya had been a near-match for Guren close to the time before she'd faked her death, but now…

Now, Guren had no doubt that Tayuya would have easily beaten her if they'd fought.

What a sobering thought.

She'd initially been angry, so angry at Tayuya about having left Orochimaru-sama, but her words…

Guren had seen that Tayuya wasn't even thinking of herself when she'd spoken on that dock, she'd honestly been concerned about Guren. And then that moment in the ship's hold…

The blue-haired shōton user shivered. She'd never expected to hear or see the sheer _desperation_ and anxiety that Tayuya had exhibited over not having those little items, the bracelet and hair-clips.

"_They were __**hers!**_"

She wondered who Tayuya had been talking about. Because that amount of emotion… she'd _never_ seen any hint of that from Tayuya during her time with Orochimaru.

_What happened to you?_

How had she changed so much in only a year?

Guren found herself actually feeling worried and slightly guilty about handing Tayuya off so easily.

"_You don't un-make friends. That's not how it works._"

It wasn't, was it?

"_Friends are friends for good._"

There was a tightness in her chest. Guren had never felt like this before. Never felt guilt about what she'd done whether in Orochimaru-sama's name or her own, and she found it a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

But Tayuya… Tayuya had been her friend, the only one she'd had, really. And she'd handed her over without even listening to her.

Guren swallowed, the edges of her eyes watering. What the blue-haired girl had done was unforgivable. But so was leaving Orochimaru-sama, wasn't it? At least, it was supposed to be. But she couldn't find it in her to truly dislike Tayuya for that.

_You should have listened to her. Given her a chance to explain._

Guren angrily wiped at her eyes. She hadn't cried since she was a child, and she wouldn't now. She was supposed to be a tool for Orochimaru-sama, without emotion, but now she found herself conflicted.

"_Fuck, you can't even see what he's done to you, can you?_"

"_I know you don't care about your life, but that doesn't mean others don't!_"

"_I gave myself to him willingly because he made that promise! And. He. Broke_. **It.**"

Guren gritted her teeth, trying to push the echoing words from her head. But no matter what she did, they came back.

She knew Orochimaru-sama didn't really care about her except because of what she could do for him, but Tayuya had, _did_.

The blue-haired girl clenched her fist against her chest, almost as if trying to squeeze her heart.

First she'd get Tayuya back, and then she'd ask Orochimaru-sama why he had broken his word. Because if he did the same to her…

Maybe she should really listen to what Tayuya said and follow her heart instead of, instead of…

Instead of Orochimaru.

* * *

**Present Day, Unknown**

The boat ride was long. Long, and wet, and she didn't enjoy it.

No fucking shit.

This was exactly what she'd been worried about when she'd left him in the first place. Literally. And… well, it hurt that it had been Guren, but if anyone had to do it she paradoxically would have preferred it to be the blue-haired girl.

Tayuya was intentionally avoiding thinking of what would happen when she got wherever it was they were going. Undoubtedly either a holding facility or one of his research hideouts. And there was the distinct chance that the fucking snake-eyed bastard would be there.

She had no idea what would happen if she had her organs cut out of her, how she would heal if she was cut into pieces put in separate pieces, and to be quite honest she really didn't want to find out.

The one good thing about having her chakra locked was that the seal on the back of her right hand wasn't visible, yet another precaution of her father's. Uzumaki chakra was needed, and she had to _want_ to get something out. The intent-based system he'd made wouldn't divulge anything if the one trying to access it was being forced.

But that at least meant that her heritage, the Uzumaki scrolls, were all safe and that Orochimaru would _never_ be able to get to them. Even Jiraiya admitted that it would have taken quite awhile to analyze the seal, not to mention the time it would take to figure out how to break into it without destroying the contents. On the order of decades or centuries.

Her father had been a seriously good seal-master.

The one one her chest, though…

That was still there. And the bastard would no doubt be _very_ interested in that.

Just… _fuck_.

Couldn't this have waited until she was at least a _bit_ stronger? Until she might have stood a chance against Orochimaru, at least enough of one that she could escape?

But nooooo. Of course fucking not.

Tayuya was pulled from her thoughts by a sudden jerk of the boat, and the sound of loud voices on the deck above.

Were they already there?

_Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck._

She wasn't ready for this. Not even a little

There were sudden steps down the stairs at the end of the aisle, but Tayuya intentionally avoided looking over towards them.

And then suddenly, a pair of blue ninja sandals came into view, stopping, and then turning to face her cell.

"Well, well. Hello again, Tayuya."

The redhead looked up and growled, glaring at the man in front of her. A man with silver hair and round glasses, a hitai-ate with the symbol of a musical note engraved into it.

Kabuto.

The man smirked at her expression. "Who would have guessed, that one of the Sound Four would still be alive. It's been too long."

_No,_ Tayuya thought.

_It hasn't been fucking long enough._

* * *

**A/N:**

I love Kurama. What a tsundere.

Tiny Tayuya-chan is the most adorable thing ever. Good _god_. And so vicious.

Shintaro was referenced all the way back in Chapter 15, during Tayuya's depressed wandering. …And now you get to see what she was talking about. I always planned on having her backstory come out, and this really was the perfect time for it.

Orochi is a fucking creeper. News at eleven.

Naruto manages to TNJ Guren yet again (well, with some help from Tayuya). Poor Guren-chan. But Guren has joined the party! Yay!

As always, huge thank you to Ziltoid and [nameless], putting up with my crazy rants and insane ideas. You guys are awesome.

REEEEVIEEEEEWWWW. please?


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